No budging on pokies bill

The government and Labor have rejected an attempt to limit the number of poker machines owned by an individual operator to 15 per cent of the Tasmanian market, instead sticking with a 25 per cent figure.

It was one of many amendments put forward by Nelson independent MLC Meg Webb during the ongoing Legislative Council debate over the government’s gaming reforms, which is expected to conclude next week.

The 25 per cent limit means operators can own up to 587 machines and it could allow for just four owners statewide, while 15 per cent would be 361 machines and at least six owners.

Ms Webb said it was broadly accepted that once the reforms are passed – providing individual licenses to venues, rather than a monopoly model through Federal Group – there would be an “aggregation” of the licenses to a small number of operators.

“There would be I think broad acknowledgement that there’s potentially some risks in that,” she said.

“What I believe is if we allow that maximum cap to sit at 25 per cent, what we could see occurring then is a dominance by four players.

“There tend to be a small number of very dominant players.”

Government leader of the house Leonie Hiscutt MLC said Victoria had a 35 per cent limit, which was seen as “too high” for Tasmania, and 25 per cent was appropriate.

“The government is comfortable that this is an appropriate figure and it does stop any monopoly ownership without overly restricting the market,” she said.

Debate on Thursday evening continued the trend of Labor siding with the government on every clause without speaking, apart from outgoing Huon MLC Bastian Seidel who unsuccessfully voted in favour of a range of Ms Webb’s amendments.

Ms Webb and Mr Seidel questioned the government on why it decided to give the licensed monitoring operator a 20-year license, rather than 15 years as seen in Victoria and NSW.

Ms Webb said the 20-year limit was another example of the gaming industry getting what it wanted from the government.

But Ms Hiscutt said this was not the case, and it provided operators with “certainty for borrowing”.

“We consulted with industry, and the 20 years was determined by the government after consultation,” she said.

Debate continues on Monday.