Push for pokies buyback as Queenslanders save almost $7 million a day

The ACT government offered community clubs $15,000 for every poker machine authorisation they gave up.

“The Premier said last year she wanted fewer pokies in Queensland; this is her chance," Mr Berkman said.

“The government has offered a $50 million pokies tax deferral, but they want to see these pokies restart and keep sucking Queenslanders dry.

“If we managed to reduce the number of pokies by just 20 per cent, that could put $480 million back into households and local small businesses every single year."

Mr Berkman's war on pokies began in 2018 when a popular family-friendly pub inside the Indooroopilly shopping centre was been given the green light to install 45 poker machines despite community objections.

“In the long term we need to phase out pokies from pubs and clubs but this is an important first step," Mr Berkman said.

Greens MP Michael Berkman.Credit:AAP

“Venues should reopen as vibrant community hubs, and we should be willing to support them to transition away from gambling revenue with a pokies buyback.

“I’d like to see this voluntary scheme start with the Indooroopilly Pig 'N' Whistle in my electorate where the Labor government has approved 45 pokies."

Alliance for Gambling Reform director Tim Costello said across the country, more than $1 billion had been saved from slots during the pandemic.

“That’s more than $1 billion that can instead be spent putting food on tables, paying for medical bills and utilities, rent and mortgages,” he said.

“Football, RSL and other clubs that are meant to serve our communities should be doing just that - serving communities, not draining them of money via poker machines.

“Imagine if we come out of this crisis with a return to community entertainment and a move away from poker machines.

"All of those musicians and comedians and other artists currently out of work would have stages on which to perform and help our communities heal as we come together again."

Gamblers' advocate Anna Bardsley said she knew many people who had been helped by the shut down of poker machines.

“I was speaking to one woman the other day who used poker machines a lot before they closed. She said for the first time in many years she actually was able to buy Easter eggs for her children as that money hadn’t been fed into a poker machine,” the former gambling addict said.

“I almost cried when I heard that. That’s how addictive poker machines can be. So addictive that a loving mother would effectively gamble away her children’s Easter eggs."

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