Thursday, September 21, 2006

The total net takings from gambling in the year 2004-2005 were $15.5
billion, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This was up from
$13.8 billion four years earlier. The preferred form of gambling is in
pokies, with takings now reaching $8.7 billion, or $1 billion more than in
2000-2001. Other major sources were off-course TAB takings ($2.1 billion),
casino gambling ($2.6 billion) and lottery-style games ($1.4 billion). More
than 68 per cent of the overall gambling happened in NSW and Victoria.
Online gambling accounted for $114.3 million in takings from a gross
turnover of $1.4 billion. The ABS, in its report Gambling Services,
Australia, said casinos generated $3.3 billion in income during 2004-2005.
The survey found 76,848 people were employed in the provisions of gambling
services, with the majority in hospitality.

Clubs NSW spokesman Jeremy Bath said employment associated with clubs -
53,000 jobs directly in NSW - had actually declined slightly in the past two
years due to high petrol prices and higher interest rates.

"There's no doubt the NSW clubs industry is facing significant financial
challenges," he said.

But the big rise in takings worries South Australian No Pokies Independent
MP Nick Xenophon.

"These latest figures make a mockery of state governments' so-called harm
minimisation efforts," he said.

"They've now been exposed as largely window dressing rather than real
reforms."