Pokies money for AFL clubs

[shintemaster]

I think it's time NMFC did a complete 360 and embraced gambling as a form of revenue. If we could generate an extra $100,000AUD per year, it would mean we could buy players like Dusty and Kelly without having to worry about the bottom line. A bit like when we bought Longmire and Carey from Sydney.
I often dream of the club having a roulette wheel in the foyer outside the Roo Shop and lining the walls of the basketball court with pokies. That way, nobody can complain their activities are being impeded and there'd be a river of dirty cash flowing through the place.
I ran it by a few of the officials last night at the Player Sponsor Function and despite a mixed response, I think most people felt I was on something.

Was just okay but saved by cracking last line.

 

[Groin guru]

We should just send some professional gamblers to other club's pokies. That way when they keep winning it will bleed money from the clubs and they can split the profits with North. Payback for the money we give to the poorer clubs for the league's equilisation fund.

 

[B4Bear]

I'm not a fan of tooting our horn too much on this subject for the simple reason that I know the only reason we don't have pokies is that we couldn't make money out of them when we did. Absolutely no higher moral stance involved. I'm happy we don't have them, but let's be honest....

Nope.

I did not become a member until long after we had gotten rid of the things. We should advertise this as one of the reasons to join our club (the no pokies, not me as a member ).

We could have dipped our oar back into the fetid pool, and decided not to.

So brag away.

 

[Kimbo]

Nope.

I did not become a member until long after we had gotten rid of the things. We should advertise this as one of the reasons to join our club (the no pokies, not me as a member ).

We could have dipped our oar back into the fetid pool, and decided not to.

So brag away.

Stop being so modest. Who could resist joining our club once they see you resplendent in your NM suit?

 

[astrovic]

Nope.

I did not become a member until long after we had gotten rid of the things. We should advertise this as one of the reasons to join our club (the no pokies, not me as a member ).

We could have dipped our oar back into the fetid pool, and decided not to.

So brag away.

Well the advertising worked. I only became a member once I found out that you were one.

 

[giantroo]

 

[Caracas]

Nope.

I did not become a member until long after we had gotten rid of the things. We should advertise this as one of the reasons to join our club (the no pokies, not me as a member ).

We could have dipped our oar back into the fetid pool, and decided not to.

So brag away.

I prefer to let Greg Baum brag on our behalf. Best bit of press I've ever seen about North.

 

[Royal Flush]

Same - I was a gaming night MC at a few venues right back to Menzies at Rialto and saw lots of people lose lots of money. There was a time I spent too much on them myself. The Labor Gov that allowed them into Victoria made one gigantic mistake. They allowed individuals and private companies to make money out of them. That changed the whole equation. We never saw the club scene grow with cheap food and entertainment like NSW because a few moguls could keep the cash themselves. That was the mistake as I saw it. And I still believe despite all our club's chest beating about being pokies free it is because every time we did have them we stuffed it up. If the club's pokies at Docklands worked like they originally planned and turned a good profit we would still have them. Let me stress I am happy to not have them and try to leverage that as a positive, but the real reason is that we couldn't make them work.

Yes that is my understanding. But I don't get how you can't make pokies work ? How did we loose money on them at etihad.
They made good coin at Arden street
Kanga Casino was ahead of its time.

On EVA-L09 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[naturally north]

How were our pokies at Edihad going to work? The stadium is empty Monday through Thursday and then 30 odd thou attend a footy match fir a couple of hours then go home on the remaining days of the week.

Am fairly sure we could have moved the machines had we wanted.

But anywho i haven't access to the article , did Dilena mention how we thought we couldn't slip below mid table? A few on here have denied that approach. That has cost us imo.

 

[giantroo]

 

[giantroo]

All bets are off:

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/outer-sanctum/outer-sanctum-episode-22/8839888

 

[JD-Roo]

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/28/health/australia-gambling-addiction-poker-slot-machines/index.html

Why Australia has a serious gambling problem
By Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, CNN
.........
In 2016, Australians lost more money per person -- an average of US $990 -- than any other developed country, according to research by consultancy H2 Gambling Capital. In comparison, runner-up Singapore lost $650 per person, and Ireland, which came third, $500.
One disadvantaged working-class Sydney suburb, Fairfield, gambled away more than AUS $8 billion from 2015-16 -- or just under $40,000 per resident.

 

[JD-Roo]

A recent four-part series:

Part 1
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...a/news-story/9e01f86ddcf5d2ec4082fc6ce2af3ed3

Part2
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...ace2d0674faff0785b3ded247b24da?from=rss-basic

Part 3
http://www.news.com.au/finance/mone...h/news-story/b440ce88b1d60b154e4fa4138f5db5c7

Part 4
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...e/news-story/aaae7b457d21f420d4d5330ef73aa042

 

[JD-Roo]

Darebin pokies cap doesn’t go far enough, say anti-gambling advocates

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/...s/news-story/75ac1ee4487d5de6b096f4d984d9dd2c

ANTI-GAMBLING advocates warn a poker machine cap will not stop the harm from Darebin’s $84 million habit.
The State Government last week announced the number of poker machines in Darebin would be frozen at 769, as part of wider reforms to the gaming industry.

 

[JD-Roo]

Whittlesea pokies: State Government will allow number of machines to almost double

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/...e/news-story/e40464fcb8319d4facbc8294e775c72f

A STATE Government bill that will allow the number of Whittlesea pokies to almost double is a “trade off in misery”, says a leading family violence advocate.

Whittlesea Community Connections principal solicitor Chris Howse said he was “disgusted” by the Gambling Regulation Amendment (Gaming Machine Arrangements) Bill 2017 introduced by Victorian Gaming Minister Marlene Kairouz last month.

 

[giantroo]

Hawthorn to sell WestWaters Hotel and 90 pokie machines to help fund $100 million Dingley training base
Hawthorn will put 90 pokie machines and WestWaters Hotel on the market to help fund its plans for a $100 million base in Dingley.
Jay Clark, Exclusive, Herald Sun

Subscriber only
|
February 17, 2020 8:59pm

Hawthorn wants to join footy’s pokies exodus and sell off 90 of its money-spinning machines.

The Herald Sun can reveal the Hawks have made the big call to put their WestWaters Hotel up for sale, including 55 per cent of their 165 gaming machines.


The venue is expected to sell for between $25 to $30 million which will be used help build the club’s new $100 million training base in Dingley.

Slashing its pokies is a significant step away for a club which has topped the league for gaming revenue across its two venues in recent years.
In 2018-19 punters handed over $24.7 million in total at Hawthorn’s WestWaters and Vegas at Waverley.

Hawthorn has come under pressure to remove itself from the pokie industry from members. Picture: Michael Klein.

Carlton ($17.8 million) and Essendon ($11.1 million) also rake in significant amounts from gaming.

AFL clubs have come under searing public pressure to wean off pokie money due to the huge toll they take on families in the community.

One Hawthorn fan confronted president Jeff Kennett over the club’s pokie machines at the club’s annual general meeting late last year, urging the club to part ways with them.



Western Bulldogs was the last club to club to exit the gaming industry last year, following North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Collingwood and Melbourne.

Melbourne’s gaming licences will expire in 2022 at the Bentleigh Club.

In 2017, AFL chairman Richard Goyder said he “hates” football’s ties with pokies and believed they were a “real problem”.

The league has subtly encouraged clubs to cut ties with the gaming machines but conceded the process would take years.

“The reason I’m concerned about it is … most of the profits from poker machines come from problem gamblers,” Goyder said.

While Kennett has publicly defended the club’s pokie machines, the Hawks have been working to diversify their asset base in recent years in preparation for the WestWaters sale.

A lot of the money made from the WestWaters machines has been reinvested back into the hotel and entertainment complex, including 100 accommodation rooms.

The sale of WestWaters Hotel will help fund Hawthorn’s $100 million Dingley plans.

It means the club is confident the move to part with 90 machines would not have a big impact on its balance sheet after 23 years of profits, including a $2.15 million surplus last year.
Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves said two years ago the club was aiming to “diversify its revenue streams”.

“In 2018 the club focused strongly on taking an innovative approach to our operations, to ensure our financial sustainability” Reeves said.

“Our current business plan, Dare to be Different, underpins this line of thinking and guided our decision making as an organisation.”

The Hawks are currently raising funds for the construction of the Kennedy Community Centre.
The facility is expected to be complete by 2022 and include two football ovals, men’s and women’s changing facilities, a major community centre and indoor basketball and netball courts.

 

[The Anvil]

are pokie machines illegal in Victoria? Yes some people have a problem with gambling but many don't and whilst it is legal i dont see a problem with it, all month we hear about the spring carnival and we have a day off for a horse race and people are betting multi million dollars. Yes the club has made a stance in no pokies but is it really a smart business move?

Yes, they are legal but the problem for me is you can't be an organisation who claims to value families, yet profit from operations which destroy them.

It's an extreme case, although you'll find that the pokies venue where a baby was left for hours in a hot car recently is owned by the Geelong Cats, https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/cats-venue-to-sniff-out-new-owner. The Cats did not force the mother to do this, but they did facilitate the opportunity.

Hawthorn are the club with the biggest pokies revenue, yet they declare from the rooftops about their family values and approach. Now unless that's the Manson family, this really doesn't add up.

I am glad that NMFC has stuck to their values, in the face of lost revenue opportunities.

 

[The Anvil]

In case people missed it from the above article, this is simply golden publicity:

"It's just wrong and the Hawthorn board should be ashamed of themselves."​

​

He called on the league and clubs to quit pokies as North Melbourne has done.​

​

"As a lifelong Essendon supporter, I'll be buying a North Melbourne membership in 2018 if my club hasn't committed to exit the pokies by the beginning of next season." Tim Costello​

​

...​

​

Mr Mayne said it had been 10 years since North Melbourne decided to dump its poker machine, and called on the other clubs to follow its lead.​

Love it

Has anyone confirmed if Tim did actually buy an NMFC membership?

 

[Arthur Cloke]

As Wayne Carey said after we won the 1996 flag “It’s great to win the flag. And it’s great not to have pokies.”
He’s so right. I mean, i frequent the Monogamy Room at Crown a fair bit after I’ve gone for a spin, and seriously, it’s a licence to print money.
And because I can afford a Crown Membership, I get free parking which means I’m really playing with house money.
And like a lot of us, I keep asking myself, “Would I rather win the flag as the Tazzie Roos, or would I rather we be non-competitive as North Melbourne?” I’m so torn. Hopefully I’ll soon get it.

 

[SMaturin]

Dingley is a long way from Glenferrie.

 

[Supreme_Chancellor]

Dingley is a long way from Glenferrie.

One sh**hole to another.

 

[Supreme_Chancellor]

as bad as gambling is, it would be pretty fun to attend a poker night with the players

 

[Sillygit]

as bad as gambling is, it would be pretty fun to attend a poker night with the players

nothing wrong with a game of poker, 20 bucks in, limited buy ins, controlled by the feel of the table. Far cry from the one armed bandits.

 

[gokangas]

as bad as gambling is, it would be pretty fun to attend a poker night with the players

There used to be poker games in the 70s 80s in the rooms under the grandstand. The late great Bill Collins used to run them. Only went a couple of times - they were well above my limit.

 

[DEVO]

Do Journalist or their Editors proof read articles anymore? That is such a poorly written story I would be embarrassed to have my name associated with it.

Western Bulldogs was the last club to club to exit the gaming industry last year, following North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Collingwood and Melbourne.

This line in particular is absolutely deplorable. What an embarrassment our News Media outlets have become.