AHA attacks voluntary pre-commitment

The Australian Hotels Association NSW (AHA NSW) has come out all guns blazing on the Federal Government's proposed voluntary pre-commitment gambling reforms, condemning them as "bad policy that will devastate the hotel industry".

The proposed changes will mandate that gaming machines must provide users that 'choose to register' information on their losses, time spent, pre-set limit balance, and a printout on request stating this information as well as money spent and number of times locked out over the past 12 months. 

These changes are intended to help problem gamblers who register and adhere to the voluntary lock-out. 

The Bill is scheduled to be discussed at the ALP Caucus meeting on Monday before reaching the House of Representatives, and could be pushed through Parliament as soon as next week. 

Citing figures that an average of 26 hotels in each electorate will be negatively impacted by the legislation, the AHA NSW's campaign includes newspaper and radio commercials this week and a large-scale mailbox drop this weekend across 15 key electorates in NSW and Queensland. 

The Association is calling on hotel owners to contact their local members and protest against their endorsement of the Bill. 

"The last thing we want to do is campaign against the Government, but this legislation gives us no choice. We have been forced to defend ourselves against bad policy that will devastate the hotel industry," said AHA NSW CEO, Paul Nicolaou. 

"It will cost NSW and Queensland pubs and clubs a billion dollars to implement unproven technology due to the Government's forced replacement timeline."

One of the Bill's opening statements raises serious doubts about its effectiveness in tackling problem gambling: "While gaming machines are required to have pre-commitment systems, users of gaming machines may choose whether to register and set a loss limit through those pre-commitment systems."

Source: The Shout, 23 November 2012