Among the biggest clubs awarding themselves the largest amounts of grant money was Amstel Golf Club in Cranbourne, which received $6.7 million. Photo: All Square Golf.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform is calling on the Victorian Government to act after finding clubs across the state are rorting a community grants scheme aimed at offsetting the financial harm of poker machines.
Representing over 60 organisations, the Alliance is a national advocacy organisation that works to prevent and minimise the harm from gambling.
In their recent analysis, the Alliance found that of all the grants provided by Victorian clubs with poker machines last financial year – more than 77 per cent ($241.7 million out of $311.6 million) were spent on funding their own operations.
This includes staff wages and meals, beer, gas, venue decorations, security, pay TV subscriptions, accounting, legal fees, council rates, pest control, trophies and prizes for members.
The Alliance’s Interim CEO Martin Thomas said these Victorian clubs were not only robbing the community of critical funding but also receiving a tax deduction by doing so.
“Across Victoria last financial year people lost more than $3bn to poker machines,” said the Alliance’s Interim CEO Martin Thomas. “Clubs with poker machines reap extraordinary profits on the back of the community harm these machines wreak and now we find out even the fraction of income they ‘give back’ is also being rorted.
“The results show that of the 230 clubs participating in the scheme in 2022/23 – including many RSLs, golf clubs, country clubs and bowls clubs – they granted themselves and their members more than 77 per cent of these benefits and are getting a tax subsidy to boot.”
Under the Victorian Community Benefits Scheme, clubs may claim a tax deduction of 8.33 per cent by verifying that they have provided at least 8.33 per cent of their net gaming revenue back to the community.
The scheme prescribes these forms under three classes (A, B and C). Class B benefits are broadly defined as operating costs along with capital expenditure.
Mr Thomas said poker machine reform was consistently resisted by the industry, which cited the community benefit that clubs offer through this grants scheme.
“The reality is the damage they are causing our communities far outweighs any good they are doing.”
According to the Alliance’s analysis, clubs that used the largest amounts of grant money on themselves instead of the community were:
- Amstel Golf Club in Cranbourne ($6.7 million)
- Veneto Club in Bulleen ($4.8 million)
- Bendigo Stadium ($4.6 million)
- Morwell Bowling Club ($4.1 million)
- Frankston RSL ($4 million)
- Geelong Combined Leagues Club ($3.7 million)
- Rosebud Country Club ($3.5 million)
- Rosebud RSL ($3.3 million)
- Mulgrave Country Club ($3.2 million)
- Kooringal Golf Club in Altona ($2.8 million)
The Interim CEO said given the scheme was clearly not working as they intended – it was time for it to be scrapped.
Mr Thomas said the Victorian Government needed to move forward on the reform agenda it announced last year and fulfil its commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee Inquiry. Held last year, the inquiry investigated how the gambling industry was regulated in Victoria and what changes were needed to reduce harm from gambling.
“The government must get on with a response to stem the losses in Victoria which are again predicted to top $3 billion in the current financial year, as well as implement the year-long commitment to a mandatory pre-commitment card with binding and default limits in pubs and clubs around the state,” said Mr Thomas.
“We know from the evidence including the royal commission into Crown Casino that only through such a system can we really prevent gambling harm, but we also need to make sure that a fair amount of the money ripped out of the communities’ pockets by this harmful industry is actually collected by the government and spent on looking after those who need help.”
