There have been multiple demands for a major shake-up in the policing of poker machines at clubs in the ACT following the suicide of gambler Raimo "Ray" Kasurinen, who played habitually at the Hellenic Club.
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The family of the deeply indebted gambler said the club plied him with free food and drink even as he poured money into the machines until just before dawn.
His widow said staff would deliver "milkshakes, hot dogs, toasted sandwiches, pastries, cheese, cake, ice-cream" free of charge. The club denies any wrongdoing.
But the case has brought widespread demands for change.
Proposals include:
- Facial recognition technology to spot self-confessed problem gamblers in pokies areas;
- Making gamblers decide on a daily limit and then only letting them use prepaid cards which cut off when that limit is reached;
- Networking all the ACT machines so gamblers can't switch venues and machines to get around the daily limit; and
- Stripping the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission of some of its power.
The demand for tougher policing of the industry comes as an analysis by The Canberra Times revealed punters have lost at least $1.2 billion on poker machines in the past 10 years - twice the cost of building the light rail from Gungahlin to Civic.
Canberra has the weakest regulation of any Australian state or territory, said Carol Bennett, who leads the Alliance for Gambling Reform.
It, alone of Australian jurisdictions, does not have all machines linked to each other in a network so that a gambler can't switch venues or machines to get round limits on spending.
Tasmania has just introduced such a pre-paid card system. It's also networked its machines so the system as a whole knows how much a gambler spends in a day - the system can monitor spending by each gambler.
"If Tasmania can do it, the ACT can," Ms Bennett said.
"What is required is the implementation of a universal pre-commitment system," said Charles Livingstone, head of the Gambling and Social Determinants Unit at Monash University.
"This will allow patrons to determine in advance (i.e. away from the machines) how much they were willing to lose on gambling machines, and be technologically held to that undertaking.
"In the ACT, unlike other jurisdictions, poker machines are not networked, and so a first step in the ACT is the introduction of a gambling machine monitoring system, which all other jurisdictions have."
Ms Bennett also thought the ACT government and the gambling industry were too close to each other.
"The industry in Canberra seems to have a lot of influence," she said.
"Canberra is very proactive on many issues but for some reason pokies seem to go under the radar."
On Monday afternoon, after publicity about Mr Kasurinen's suicide, the government said days ago it had started investigating just such a Central Monitoring System, but added: "The ACT government has not committed to the implementation of a CMS."
"Upon receipt of the market sounding results, the ACT government will swiftly consider the next steps to take in this area," ACT Gaming Minister Shane Rattenbury.
Canberra's poker machine industry is policed by the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission.
Figures compiled from its reports put gamblers' annual losses to ACT machines over most of the the last 10 financial years at more than $150 million, taking the total losses by punters to the machines for the past decade to $1,218,219,169, or $1.2 billion (not counting the pandemic years).
Many of the clubs depend on the income. The clubs themselves say they have proposed changes to the ACT government but the government rejected the proposals.
ClubsACT proposed having facial recognition cameras in gaming areas, said Craig Shannon, who heads the industry body.
The idea was that the facial recognition cameras could immediately spot people who had already identified themselves as problem gamblers. At the moment, staff have to do that.
"The government has not supported that because of privacy issues," Mr Shannon said.
He called clubs "kiosks of harm-prevention" because they were regulated. If people didn't gamble in the clubs they might be tempted into other less regulated areas, like online gambling.
Labor member of the ACT Legislative Assembly Marisa Paterson has just succeeded in pushing through a law to ban pokies from clubs built in the ACT's newest suburbs.
She has doubts about the proposal to network gaming machines and have cashless playing. "That solidifies machines in the territory," she said.
The ACT government policy is to gradually reduce the number of machines - and they have gone down from 5022 in 2015 to around 3500 today.
Dr Paterson said clubs needed some sort of long-term strategy so they could plan for life after pokies or life with fewer pokies.
She also thought the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission needed to lose its responsibility for reducing harm from gambling. That role would be better done under the health system, with its drug and alcohol expertise.
There was also dismay about the commission among some club managers.
"I don't know what it does," one industry source said.
- The Gambling Helpline is on 1800 858 858.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed, contact Lifeline 13 11 14; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; headspace 1800 650 890; ReachOut.com.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
