Stephanie Peatling
Political Correspondent for the Sun-Herald
September 30, 2012
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SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths is earning hundreds of millions of dollars a year from some of the country's poorest regions because of the concentration of its poker machines in low-income areas.
The first study of the locations of pubs and clubs owned by Woolworths shows it is making more than $300 million a year in net revenue from pokies in venues in seven Victorian local government areas with low average incomes.
''The fact is they have a lot of machines in areas which by anyone's standards are disadvantaged,'' the author of the report, Monash University gambling expert Charles Livingstone said.
''We are not talking about an accidental distribution. There seems to be careful planning … Woolworths is a massive Australian company which prides itself on being socially responsible, and this doesn't sit well with that.''
Woolworths owns or operates 6 per cent of the country's electronic gaming machines through the ALH Group, in which it is the major shareholder. This makes Woolworths the largest operator of pokies in Australia.
The 294 ALH venues across Australia contain 12,650 pokie machines, which bring in an estimated $1.2 billion in net revenue each year.
In Victoria, Woolworths operates or manages 93 hotels or clubs, of which 89 contain 5594 poker machines. The machines generate net annual revenue of $835 million, or 31.5 per cent of all revenue from pokies in Victoria.
Many of the machines are in local government areas with low personal incomes, including Brimbank, Greater Dandenong, Hume, Maribyrnong, Monash, Whittlesea and Wyndham.
Those seven areas contain nearly a third of the venues owned or operated by Woolworths in Victoria. The venues house 1867 poker machines, which bring in $313 million in net revenue a year.
Dr Livingstone's research was funded by GetUp!, which wants Woolworths to adopt a $1 bet limit at an extraordinary general meeting in November.
''The Woolworths board should get out there and see the impact their products are having on Australian families,'' GetUp! campaigner Erin McCallum said.
''Whether it's deliberate or accidental, you can't escape the conclusion that machines are targeting people who are most disadvantaged.''
A spokeswoman for Woolworths, Claire Kimball, rejected the suggestion the company deliberately placed venues in low-income areas.
''Most ALH hotels were established before poker machines were in pubs,'' she said. ''Each hotel now has a government-mandated cap on the number of machines, which are just one part of a pub's offer.''
Ms Kimball said the board had yet to finalise its position on the $1 bet limit proposal.
'''We take our responsibilities very seriously but don't believe restrictions that would single out just one operator in isolation will be effective when there are many others pubs, clubs and casinos, as well as other forms of gambling,'' she said.
