Federal Government Wants ATM’s Out of Australian Gambling Venues

Peter Costello, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, is urging the state to get rid of all Automatic Teller Machines (ATM’s) that are near gambling facilities. Costello says an ATM machine near a poker table or in a casino is just to much of a temptation for people with gambling addictions.

According to spokespeople for Morris Iemma, “NSW already has strict regulations in place to ensure that gaming venues place ATM’s well away from gaming machines.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, more than 3000 ATM’s are located inside of gambling venues, or close by in Australia.

Costello told members of Parliament that account for 1/3 of the revenue poker machines generate and that curbing easy access to the cash was in order to begin tackling the issue.

“We look forward to cooperation from the states in relation to that matter and in some matters there have been positive steps, such as warnings in relation to gambling for people who might be problem gamblers and an increase for counseling services for those that suffer this addiction,” Costello said at Parliament. He continued saying, “We would ask all of the states to cooperate with the commonwealth in its active program to deal with this scourge, an area where the commonwealth has taken leadership, even though it has no legislative power and we would ask all of the states to cooperate in dealing with this matter.”

“The ATM represents a real temptation for a problem gambler who may have come with a fixed sum of money, gone through it, and now finds it easy to go to the ATM to continue their addiction,” he said.

“We would ask all of the states to co-operate with the Commonwealth in its active program to deal with this scourge, an area where the Commonwealth has taken leadership even though it has no legislative power.”

Costello went on to say, “There is no reason for any state government whatsoever to believe that the introduction of Keno or other forms of interactive gambling could actually add to the social cohesion in our country,”

1/3 of all gambling at Australia poker machines is done by problem gamblers? Who decided that? Where are the statistics?

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