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The Record of the State of Victoria for Poker Losses

On March 25th, 2008, poker machine gamers in the area of Victoria have thrown away more than $1.35 billion in just a period of six months. The growing poker tournament losses put gamblers on the right track to surpass the record of $2.56 billion, earned before the smoking ban was enforced in Victoria back in 2002. The records that are kept by the State of Victoria states that six months losses incurred by Tatts and Tabcorp back in the month of July are around $54.7 million, larger than the record that was posted last year.

The overall total does not take into consideration the poker profits incurred by the Crown Casino facility. The most substantial losses came from Monash, where around sixty-six million dollars was lost from poker from locations like Chadstone, Clayton and others. The state of Brimbank, which includes, Keilor, St. Albans and Sunshine, was considered to be the second biggest gambling spenders with a total of sixty five million dollars. Bettors from Casey and Dandenong each posted poker loses of sixty million dollars, followed closely by fifty-nine million dollars.

The Commission for Gaming Regulation in Victoria released details regarding how much poker player loss all over the state for the month of August, which is $235 million. The representative of the State Opposition, Michael O'Brien commented that it was obvious that the poker industry has already recovered the profits that they have lost due to the effect of the smoking.

O'Brien added with the year 2008 being an Olympic year, the Government of Premier Brumby is determined to get the first place position for gambling losses. But Premier Brumby should think twice about this position because this record is built on gaming problems and Premier Brumby should think of the Government's responsibility to the society, not only to the state coffers. O'Brien added that about fifty two of the sixty two council areas had larger poker losses in the period of six months including the nineteen areas where the regional caps of the state government had been enforced.

The total losses in Poker back in the 2006-2007 period grow to about $2.543 billion -a growth of $7 million per day from the low income areas. But based on the figures for the six month period, the 2007-2008 period is predicted to reach $2.7 billion, the largest in the history of Victoria.

04/22/2008, Tuesday
Sherry Barlow

The Record of the State of Victoria for Poker Losses

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