The Diversification and Sustainability Support Fund was designed to help clubs diversify away from poker machine revenue. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The ACT’s licensed clubs sector has welcomed the proposed two-year pause in the fund set up to help it diversify away from poker machine revenue while an independent inquiry into the sector is held.
The ACT Government announced the temporary pause of the Diversification and Sustainability Support Fund, introducing a bill into the Legislative Assembly this week.
The fund was established in 2019 to help clubs reduce their reliance on gaming revenue by supporting the development of other revenue streams and enhancing their administrative efficiency.
The government said the pause will allow its approach to supporting diversification to be better informed by the findings of the Inquiry into the Future of the Club Sector.
ClubsACT CEO Craig Shannon said the club industry had advocated for the pause in the last term of the Legislative Assembly, saying the fund was flawed and did not achieve what it set out to do.
“The Diversification and Sustainability Support Fund was a conceptually flawed model where money was taken off clubs and then returned after applications were made for specific projects,” he said.
“We don’t believe the fund ever achieved its real aspirations, as the grant amounts were never sufficient to allow significant investments in diversification projects.”
Mr Shannon said it would be more practical for clubs to have access to, and utilise, their limited funds as part of their investment strategies without surrendering funds to government and having to apply for them back.
“We welcome the commitment from the government and other parties that the outcomes of the inquiry will inform policy going forward for the ACT,” he said.
“We need clear and unambiguous facts on the table that provide an evidence base to best practice policy going forward. Canberra cannot afford to lose its club industry.”
Gaming Reform Minister Marissa Paterson said the pause would allow the government to look at alternative approaches to supporting clubs to diversify as it undertook reforms to address gambling harm.
Gaming Reform Minister Dr Marisa Paterson says the fund did not reduce gambling harm or the number of poker machines. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
Dr Patterson said the fund model was flawed in that it did not require reductions in poker machine numbers.
“Clubs could access funding without actually having to commit to reduced poker machines,” she said.
“We’ve got the compulsory surrender scheme under way at the moment, but this fund was set up separate from that activity of reducing machine numbers, so I think through the club’s inquiry we’ll look at ways that we can set this up to be a more productive framework in supporting diversification activities of clubs.”
Dr Paterson said the government recognised the vital role clubs play in the social life of many Canberrans.
She hoped that the inquiry would provide a really good understanding of the club sector, how it works, and the economic implications of policy measures, “so that we can actually work with clubs on tangible steps and ways forward, how they can understand what they need to be doing to create a sustainable club sector in the ACT that isn’t relying on [gambling] harm”.
The Inquiry into the Future of the Club Sector will advise the government on the development and implementation of a comprehensive club sector transition plan, including recommendations on how best to support the revenue transition of ACT clubs.
The Gaming Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 will suspend both incoming and outgoing payments to the fund during the inquiry period.
The bill also introduces amendments to the Gambling and Racing Control Act 1999 to expand information-sharing provisions in relation to investigations conducted by the Gambling and Racing Commission.
These amendments will speak directly to the concerns raised by complainants and ensure that they can be kept up to date with the progress of their complaints.
The government aims to reduce poker machines in the Territory to 3500 by 1 July 2025 and to 1000 over the next 20 years.
At last count there were 3790.
