A PROMINENT Mount Gambier hotelier has warned hundreds of jobs would be lost in the city if poker machines were banned in pubs.
Hotel group owner and state industry leader Guy Matthews has come out in support of gaming in regional hotels amid new figures showing nearly $16.8m was poured into poker machines in the Mount Gambier district in the past financial year.
The Blue Lake city – incorporating the Grant district – has retained the crown as the state’s regional poker machine capital despite gaming spending dropping.
According to new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, $16.8m was poured into 354 gaming machines across 14 venues.
But Mr Matthews said poker machines were a vital income stream for Mount Gambier’s hotel industry.
“If there were no poker machines, half of the 10 hotels in Mount Gambier would close – these hotels employ more than 500 people,” he said.
“The average hotel would have a $20,000 wage bill each week – you cannot run a gaming area under $4000 in wages a week.
“People do not realise how big an economic contributor the hotel industry is in Mount Gambier.”
Mr Matthews said poker machines provided entertainment for people with figures showing only 2pc of people using gaming machines were “problem gamblers”.
“You play poker machines for entertainment, it is not to win a lot of money,” he said.
“There is no difference to spending $15 on a movie ticket.
“Poker machines are entertainment – they are not designed to rip people off.
“Ninety-2pc of the money that goes into a machine goes back to a player.”
He said major inroads had been made within the hotel industry with tackling the issue of problem gamblers.
Revealing there had been a decline in gaming machine use, he said the problem gambling trend was now online betting platforms that included the use of mobile phones.
He said people were betting at home on football, horse races and other betting platforms.
“Problem gamblers are now betting at home because they know they will not be discovered at home, unlike at a hotel,” Mr Matthews explained.
The maximum $5 bet had also helped to drive a decrease in problem gamblers, particularly among the “bigger punters”.
“The hotel industry is very conscious of the issue of problem gambling and Gaming Care has been working very well,” Mr Matthews explained.
Under strict regulations, hotel staff who notice someone who was excessively using gaming machines are reported.
“These are reported monthly to Gaming Care … problem gambling is decreasing in hotels,” Mr Matthews said.
Meanwhile, the hotelier said the industry needed the income stream from poker machines given their bottle shops were competing with large multinationals.
“These large companies – such as Woolworths – have 50pc of the takeaway liquor market in Mount Gambier,” Mr Matthews said.
He said hotels were also competing with food outlets, particularly restaurants and cafes, in Mount Gambier.
Mr Matthews also said his hotels in Mount Gambier supported regional vignerons with 60pc of the wine sold sourced from the region.
Moreover, he said the hotel industry was a significant supporter of the city’s sporting groups through sponsorship.
