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A report issued yesterday revealed that the problematic gambling costs Australia $4.7 billion per year along with arresting 15,000 addicted punters.
According to the Australian productivity commission there are 600,000 adult poker players who played poker every week and bet more than $19 billion per year. This shows amounting to $1500 for every adult gambler. Commission states that about 95,000 of those 600,000 gamblers are the problem gamblers as they contribute about 40 percent of losses on the poker machines.
The commission recommends hard action against bets by lowering the bet amount to $1 limit. However, the Government declined the recommendation as the most of the gambling rules are designed and passed by the States. The Government however agreed to install a voluntary system on electronic machines in which players has to nominate the amount of the bet and have to prepare for loss before the game starts. This strategy will encourage the punters to block themselves from the wagers where they are at level to over spend.
The above-mentioned system will be phased in from 2016 but the Communication Minister Stephen Conroy forces to take an immediate step to resolve the issue. “The Government should restrict online gambling including online poker and online wagers placed by the youngsters by mobile phone”, He said.
Jenny Macklin, The Families Minister said that the select committee of the State under the Australian Governments Council would discuss the issue.
Government refused to reduce the wager limit to $1 as it may reduce the revenue generated from the poker machines for the casinos and the State Government. Clubs NSW hailed the Government’s answer and supported the pre-commitment stratagem system. According to estimation there are 198,065 poker machines in Australia and almost 97,065 in NSW. Annual loss at each gaming machine is about $3,700 for every player in NSW.
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