Australian Pokies Reform

With a key independent resigning in the Australian parliament and a coalition (liberal) party member taking his place, the Australian Labour government has now gained a crucial additional vote in parliament.  What does this have to do with pokies reform you ask?  Well a key Tasmania independent sided with the government in order to push through his pre-commitment pokie machine laws, as the government was previously clinging on to power with the help of independents, Mr Wilkes support is no longer required with the change of events in the Australian parliament this week.  As a condition for supporting Labor’s minority government, Mr Wilkie demanded introduction of poker-machine pre-commitment technology to limit problem gamblers.

The labour party may now choose to listen to their members who are telling caucus that the pokie reforms are extremely unpopular in labor heartland and back flip these pre-commitment pokie reforms.  Mr Wilkie however has lashed out and has stated that ”In regard to poker-machine reform, she (Prime Minister) has made it very clear the government remains committed to it.”  Wilkie also insists that these are popular reforms in Australia’s best interests.  However many Australian’s believe otherwise.  “I love the pokies and don’t want any new stupid laws placed upon me from this phony government” said Gail Kingston as she played Wheres the Gold slot machine hoping for three mines to appear to win the free spins.

Pokies reforms are a huge ongoing issue in Australian politics as Australia currently has approximately 197 000 pokie machines and the highest number per head of population in the world.  Slots make up over 60% of total gambling activities and have created a huge industry who rely on people playing to support employment and the clubs and pubs.  Football teams and other sporting clubs rely heavily on income from pokie machines.

However Andrew Wilkie and other pokie opponents argue that the number of problem gamblers is growing and over 100,000 people are hooked on playing with 600,000 Aussies playing on a weekly basis.  The government need to tread delicately on this issue as any reforms will impact on employment and could potentially loose the votes of hundreds of thousands of pokie players.

The greens have jumped on the bandwagon with their idea of maximum bet $1.00 per spin.  This will not go down well at all with operators with millions of dollars required to upgrade machines and reformat to allow this to happen.

If the Australian pokies reforms affect you then don’t worry, you can always download pokies and enjoy playing our range of free pokies online.