According to news reports emanating today from Australia, it looks likely that the Federal Government will approve the Productivity’s Commissions Report on gambling which will see a raft of new reforms implemented within the Australian gambling and pokies sector.
The major headline grabbing changes will see the introduction of a maximum $1 bet per spin on pokies, as well as the a review of the tax breaks given to not-for-profit pokie clubs that earn a significant amount of revenue from electronic gaming and pokie machines.
There will be considerable support from anti-pokie campaigners for the implementation of a maximum bet of $1 per spin, which effectively equates to a maximum spend of $120 for an hours play. Originally outlined in the original Productivity Report on Gambling it is hoped that such a policy shift will assist those players who have issues with problem gambling, a figure believed to be around 15% of Australian pokie machine players.
The tax breaks given to a number of not-for-profit Australian Clubs that have large numbers of pokie machines is a move that may come as a surprise to many industry watchers, particularly given the recent raising of the taxable income threshold for hotels as Clubs in NSW, an act that was seen as a life line to smaller out of town regional venues.
However, it’s apparent that any attempt to revoke tax benefits given to not-for-profit Clubs is targeted towards those that rely heavily on pokie machine income.
Source: Online Pokies Club - the major source of information on the pokies industry. Check out our latest free pokies and other games.
Tags: Australian gambling, Productivity Commission
This entry was written by Felix on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 5:19 am and is filed under Blog, News.
