2010 Media Releases & Speeches
Productivity Commission Fails the Balance Test - 23 June 2010
The Productivity Commission has failed to produce a balanced report into gambling in Australia and has instead opted to recommend sweeping measures which will cause harm to the industry without addressing problem gambling, according to ClubsACT Chief Executive, Jeff House.
“It is genuinely unfortunate that the Productivity Commission has opted for headlines rather than adopting an evidence-based, measured approach to dealing with issues of problem gambling in our community.
“The major recommendations in the report add up to an enormous cost for industry with very little, if any, gain. $1 bet limits, a costly full pre-commitment scheme and the removal of tax-concessions represent an attempt to deal with problem gambling by firstly making it much harder for anyone to gamble at all and secondly making it much harder for any venue to operate viably.
“This is the sledge-hammer approach to dealing with problem gambling when clearly only a scalpel was needed”, Mr House said.
The report states that a $1 minimum bet would ‘strongly target problem gamblers, with little disturbance for others’, when the University of Sydney’s Gambling Research Unit found that just 7.5% of problem gamblers bet more than $1 per play. KPMG also found that if a $1 limit was introduced, it would cut club revenue by around 30%, costing more than 11,300 jobs in NSW alone.
“The final report regrettably reflects the draft report’s approach where the Commissioners almost totally ignore the benefits that flow from the club industry whilst also significantly downplaying the impacts their recommendations will have.
“The failure of the report to be honest about the impacts its recommendations will have is perhaps its greatest failing.
“Industry, government and the community is united in wanting to take appropriate and effective steps to deal with problem gambling. Much progress has been made but there is more work to be done and we look forward to working with the government to ensure appropriate and effective steps are taken that also ensure a future for one of Australia’s important industries.
“The report released today by the Productivity Commission might represent what Senator Xenophon wanted, but it is a report which fails the balance test and its recommendations will lead to great harm in the industry with negligible harm reduction for problem gamblers”, Mr House concluded.