Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
2 Nov 2012
Bernard Boerma, CEO of the Archdiocese of Sydney's welfare agency, CatholicCare has urged politicians nationwide to continue their focus on problem gambling which causes so much harm to individuals and families.
Although he applauds the package of bills tabled in the House of Representatives this week which includes the introduction of voluntary pre-commitment on poker machines by 2016, with a trial of mandatory pre-commitment beginning in the ACT next year, Mr Boerma says the legislation falls "considerably short of the measures needed to stem the tide of problem gambling."
He points out that as the welfare arm of the Archdiocese, CatholicCare sees the incredible damage caused by problem gambling first hand.
A recent study by the Productivity Commission found problem gamblers account for as much as 40% of all poker machine spending, with weekly players on the pokies spending an average of $8000 each year.
"This is a sizeable share of household incomes and a primary source of harm," Mr Boerma says and wants to see mandatory pre-commitment and maximum bets of $1 introduced to help existing problem gamblers and to prevent significant numbers of other individuals of becoming problem gamblers.
"We will continue to work through Catholic Social Services Australia and the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce to build on this legislation in a drive for expanded and significant reforms," he says.
Along with voluntary pre-commitment for players of poker machines, the bills before the House of Representatives include a limit of $250 from of any of the ATMs at the club.
The bills are a watered down version of what was originally envisaged by Independent MP, Andrew Wilkie and SA Senator Nick Xenophon but as both they and Mr Boerma insist: "At least this is a start."
GameCare is one of the key programs CatholicCare offers to problem gamblers through its offices in Bankstown and Haymarket.
In another important initiative, the agency joined forces earlier this year with the Catholic Clubs of Liverpool, Lidcombe and Club Central Hurstville and Menai for an innovative and ground breaking initiative known as GAINS - Gambling Awareness, Intervention and Support.
With the Clubs donating as much as $1 million to underwrite the program over five years, GAINS is aimed not only at helping problem gamblers and their families, but is training staff at the clubs on how to recognise problem gamblers and link them with a wide range of support services.
Within CatholicCare itself GAINS will be supported by the highly-regarded Holyoake Program which assists families impacted by a parent's, or son's or daughter's addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling, and teaching them how to cope and still make the most of their lives.
However Mr Boerma has repeatedly warned this initiative should be seen as a building block and not a substitute for ongoing and hard-hitting reforms to poker machine gambling.
"It is completely unacceptable that problem gamblers account for 40% of total poker machine spending and that players can lose up to $1200 an hour on high intensity machines," he says.
NSW has one of the world's highest concentration of poker machines. However while the new legislation before the House of Representatives may go some way in protecting problem gamblers on poker machines, online gambling and international betting conglomerates such as Betfair, Luxbet, Sportingbet and Sportsbet continue to grow.
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
2 Nov 2012
CatholicCare initiative not a substitute for hardhitting reform to poker machine gambling
Although he applauds the package of bills tabled in the House of Representatives this week which includes the introduction of voluntary pre-commitment on poker machines by 2016, with a trial of mandatory pre-commitment beginning in the ACT next year, Mr Boerma says the legislation falls "considerably short of the measures needed to stem the tide of problem gambling."
He points out that as the welfare arm of the Archdiocese, CatholicCare sees the incredible damage caused by problem gambling first hand.
A recent study by the Productivity Commission found problem gamblers account for as much as 40% of all poker machine spending, with weekly players on the pokies spending an average of $8000 each year.
Bernard Boerma, CEO of CatholicCare
"We will continue to work through Catholic Social Services Australia and the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce to build on this legislation in a drive for expanded and significant reforms," he says.
Along with voluntary pre-commitment for players of poker machines, the bills before the House of Representatives include a limit of $250 from of any of the ATMs at the club.
The bills are a watered down version of what was originally envisaged by Independent MP, Andrew Wilkie and SA Senator Nick Xenophon but as both they and Mr Boerma insist: "At least this is a start."
GameCare is one of the key programs CatholicCare offers to problem gamblers through its offices in Bankstown and Haymarket.
In another important initiative, the agency joined forces earlier this year with the Catholic Clubs of Liverpool, Lidcombe and Club Central Hurstville and Menai for an innovative and ground breaking initiative known as GAINS - Gambling Awareness, Intervention and Support.
CatholicCare backs poker machines reforms including mandatory precommitment
Within CatholicCare itself GAINS will be supported by the highly-regarded Holyoake Program which assists families impacted by a parent's, or son's or daughter's addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling, and teaching them how to cope and still make the most of their lives.
However Mr Boerma has repeatedly warned this initiative should be seen as a building block and not a substitute for ongoing and hard-hitting reforms to poker machine gambling.
"It is completely unacceptable that problem gamblers account for 40% of total poker machine spending and that players can lose up to $1200 an hour on high intensity machines," he says.
NSW has one of the world's highest concentration of poker machines. However while the new legislation before the House of Representatives may go some way in protecting problem gamblers on poker machines, online gambling and international betting conglomerates such as Betfair, Luxbet, Sportingbet and Sportsbet continue to grow.
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
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