The Pokie, or the gambling machines that have been a staple in this area are now under fire and are threatening to be removed in the near future. There has been an increasing amount of concern about how much these machines are causing harm on the people in the surrounding areas. Gambling and addiction are some of the issues that they are facing, so now the government is working toward phasing out these machines in an attempt to eliminate these problems.
There are many concerns with eliminating the Pokies once and for all. The first of which is the idea that these machines are helping employ many locals that would soon be out of a job. Currently the hospitality business is running strong and if these machines take gambling out of the hospitality field, then many employees will suffer the consequences. The Hospitality Association in Tasmania is protesting the Tasmanian Greens plan to eliminate all of the Pokies.
What does this all mean to those who are currently gambling at the pokies? Well for starters they are raising the maximum bet to $1.00. This could sway many of the gamblers away just because of the fact that this will not be enough to hold their attention for long if they plan on spending some serious money on gambling.
Let’s not neglect the fact that if there are problem gamblers in the area, they will still be at the machines no matter what the price is to play. According to Tasmanian Hospitality Manager, Steve Old, “What the Greens fail to acknowledge is that even ardent anti-poker machine politician Nick Xenophon believes Tasmania is far ahead of any other state when it comes to preventing problem gambling.” He also feel that the impact of the 23,000 employees in the hospitality field could be severely detrimental in these poor economic times. Once this impact hit these venues, surrounding business would also feel the aftershock.
