ACT taverns have a reasonable argument that they should be allowed to have at least some poker machines. Their present allowance of only two class A machines amounts to a total ban because these machines are no longer available. The taverns want to a have a trial of two class-C (modern machines).
At present the 5200 machines allowed in the territory are restricted to clubs. The National Federal of Independent Businesses is threatening to take the matter to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission unless they get access to the machines. That threat would probably come to very little. Nonetheless the taverns have a moral argument, even if they do not have much of a legal one.
Over the past decade, the pubs and taverns have had a difficult time competing against the clubs. Clubs have become ever larger. Indeed, some have become so large that it is difficult to image what community of interest their members could possibly have – other than enjoying cheap food, drink and entertainment that flows from the tax concessions obtained by having club status. Many clubs are technically non-profit, but they plough their profits back into the club and behave in a way not much discernible from a business – they even advertise to the population at large to attract business, even if the advertisements carry the meaningless catchline “”for the information of members and their invited guests”. At the door, patrons are treated more like customers than members. There is virtually no restriction on who can enter.
True, clubs are required to put 5 per cent of net poker machine revenue back into the community, and they in fact put more than double of that back – technically speaking. But most goes to the club’s own activities and infrastructure. Very little goes to unassociated charities. Besides, the same requirement could be made of taverns, and arguably more poker machine money would find its way into the community because taverns could not meet part of the requirement by spending on themselves, as clubs do.
The new Labor Government has a conflict of interest on poker machine rules because it is the beneficiary of donations from the Labor Club.
In fairness to the pub and tavern business and the casino, any future lifting of the 5200 poker machine limit should go to them. The clubs have had a good run, and it has only been after a lot of pressure that they have been more generous with their poker machine revenues to unrelated charities – and even now it amounts to just $634,894 of the more than $1 billion that goes through ACT poker machines each year.