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Gambling industry fights back
By Stewart Oldfield
Australia's gambling industry is today expected to launch a national lobbying body to counter the growing influence of the anti-gambling movement.
The likes of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd's Crown Ltd, the NSW TAB Ltd and Victoria's Tabcorp have put aside commercial differences to form the Australian Gaming Council.
It is the first time Australia's hotels, clubs and casinos have formed a national gambling-focused body and reflects the pressure the industry has faced in the past year for not doing more to effectively counter problem gambling.
The body intends to hold regular meetings between, for instance, Tabcorp's chief executive, Mr Ross Wilson, and his NSW counterpart, TAB Ltd chief Mr Warren Wilson.
The gaming council was intended to be launched by the end of last year but sources blamed the delay on reconciling the differences between founding members.
Conspicuous by their absence from the group are the powerful NSW branch of the Australian Hotels Association and the Australian Casino Association.
The chief executive of the Australian Gaming Council, Ms Vicki Flannery, said the industry was very fragmented and more needed to be done at a national level to protect the interests of Australians who enjoyed a punt.
"Australia is a gambling nation," said Ms Flannery, who is the former assistant director of the Business Council of Australia.
"There has been a real polarity of views and it is not helping anyone," she said.
The council aimed to promote responsible gambling and intended to work closely with government and community groups," Ms Flannery said.
The council's inaugural chairman, Mr Peter Gillooly, said of the decision to form the group: "No-one has been game to put their head up to make certain statements. The anti-gambling lobby has had a free kick."
Anti-gambling issues came to a head with the release last July of the influential Productivity Commission draft report into Australia's gambling industry.
The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, in responding to the report's findings, said the industry was a social evil and he was ashamed of the number of poker machines in Australia.
The gambling industry made independent submissions to the inquiry which found that problem gamblers accounted for about one third of the market. Some of the findings outraged the industry.
Mr Gillooly denied the body had been set up too late. "We probably needed something like the Productivity Commission report to show there was a need to have a national approach to matters of this ilk," he said.
The gaming council will also include the chief executives of Aristocrat Leisure, Tattersalls and the ALH group - a subsidiary of Carlton & United Breweries.
By Stewart Oldfield
Australia's gambling industry is today expected to launch a national lobbying body to counter the growing influence of the anti-gambling movement.
The likes of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd's Crown Ltd, the NSW TAB Ltd and Victoria's Tabcorp have put aside commercial differences to form the Australian Gaming Council.
It is the first time Australia's hotels, clubs and casinos have formed a national gambling-focused body and reflects the pressure the industry has faced in the past year for not doing more to effectively counter problem gambling.
The body intends to hold regular meetings between, for instance, Tabcorp's chief executive, Mr Ross Wilson, and his NSW counterpart, TAB Ltd chief Mr Warren Wilson.
The gaming council was intended to be launched by the end of last year but sources blamed the delay on reconciling the differences between founding members.
Conspicuous by their absence from the group are the powerful NSW branch of the Australian Hotels Association and the Australian Casino Association.
The chief executive of the Australian Gaming Council, Ms Vicki Flannery, said the industry was very fragmented and more needed to be done at a national level to protect the interests of Australians who enjoyed a punt.
"Australia is a gambling nation," said Ms Flannery, who is the former assistant director of the Business Council of Australia.
"There has been a real polarity of views and it is not helping anyone," she said.
The council aimed to promote responsible gambling and intended to work closely with government and community groups," Ms Flannery said.
The council's inaugural chairman, Mr Peter Gillooly, said of the decision to form the group: "No-one has been game to put their head up to make certain statements. The anti-gambling lobby has had a free kick."
Anti-gambling issues came to a head with the release last July of the influential Productivity Commission draft report into Australia's gambling industry.
The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, in responding to the report's findings, said the industry was a social evil and he was ashamed of the number of poker machines in Australia.
The gambling industry made independent submissions to the inquiry which found that problem gamblers accounted for about one third of the market. Some of the findings outraged the industry.
Mr Gillooly denied the body had been set up too late. "We probably needed something like the Productivity Commission report to show there was a need to have a national approach to matters of this ilk," he said.
The gaming council will also include the chief executives of Aristocrat Leisure, Tattersalls and the ALH group - a subsidiary of Carlton & United Breweries.