Draconian Pokie Police!

[Sammy Jankis]

Then:

“They are evil, mindless, addictive and without virtue. They are poker machines and Victoria should switch them off. I LOATHE our pokies. I wish the Kirner Government had never let these foul machines loose on our communities, to pick the pockets of the poor, rob their children and tempt the weak to crime.”

...

“What are they good for? At their very best they kill time for people who should be getting on with something more useful, and they titillate the lazy with fool’s dreams of fast bucks earned with no honour or sweat. But at their worst, they destroy families — some I know and like too well to tell you about here.”

...

“We must ban them, as we banned them before, when we had moral gumption. Let’s ban them, now we’ve seen the havoc they wreak.

“Ban them. Help the weak. Ban them. Think of the children. Ban them. Protect the poor. Ban them. Show some heart. Some virtue. Just ban them.”

Now:

Less a problem than the pokies police say

The political campaign for draconian controls have gone up just as spending has gone down:

SPENDING on pokies in Victoria has decreased by almost a quarter in the past decade.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation has found the average annual spending on poker machines was $613 in 2010-11, down from $627 nine years ago.

But after taking inflation into account, the drop has been steeper - spending per person fell 24 per cent in the period.

Discussed previously at Pure Poison I know, but I just can't help but marvel at how principles can be so quickly jettisoned to make room for partisanship.

Bit from The Age article that Bolt didn't quote:

The decrease follows the banning of automatic teller machines from gaming venues from July and the setting up of an independent gambling foundation to provide counselling and run campaigns.
...

The introduction of the ATM ban in July appears to have had an impact. Figures from the regulator show spending fell from $235 million to $219 million over the 12 months to the end of July, covering the first month of the ban.

But the regulator's submission also shows that in some parts of Victoria problem gambling remains chronic.

So government (pokie police!) regulation (nannyism!) has contributed to the decline, but problem gambling is still a big issue.