Have you had a letter from the Labor Club?

I believe the only club in the ACT without poker machines is the Polish-Australian Club in Turner.

Although, Gold Creek Country Club in Nicholls has recently ended its relationship with poker machines and the Kaleen Sports Club which was operating them at Gold Creek.

More power to them both.

PM said :

Bosworth said :

I’ve heard friends say that it is comercially non-viable to operate a sports club in canberra without pokies. Is this true?

Depends. If a sports club without pokies were to compete against a sports club with pokies, it wouldn’t survive very long. If there were fewer pokies across the board, however, I’m sure they could survive (as they used to survive in the past).

So, the only possibility for the existence of a pokie-free club is severe or complete legislative restrictions?

nanzan said :

As a Catholic I will always be utterly ashamed to the core of my soul that my church has aligned itself with poker machine clubs in this country, and that, in this city, it owns, through the Canberra Southern Cross clubs, the largest network of clubs in the territory with the largest number of poker machines per capita.

What possible connection there is between Jesus of Nazareth and poker machines (in, until recently, smoke-filled rooms) I will never, ever be able to fathom. Instead of hiding behind the facade of generating funds for charity, the Church should hang its head in shame.

And yet you still support that greedy hypocritical organisation?

Nanzan said: What possible connection there is between Jesus of Nazareth and poker machines …

Possible answers:
Pull the whole lot down in a fit of rage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2021:12
And then there’s the famous boord of vipers speech raging against hypocrisy:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew 23

There’s probably more, but that’s just a quick google.

As a Catholic I will always be utterly ashamed to the core of my soul that my church has aligned itself with poker machine clubs in this country, and that, in this city, it owns, through the Canberra Southern Cross clubs, the largest network of clubs in the territory with the largest number of poker machines per capita.

What possible connection there is between Jesus of Nazareth and poker machines (in, until recently, smoke-filled rooms) I will never, ever be able to fathom. Instead of hiding behind the facade of generating funds for charity, the Church should hang its head in shame.

housebound said :

Wests at Jamo has been a dive for years, even after the renovations.

Yes, but it used to be a much smaller place, with “good” club food (ie not bad and cheap), and the pokies all in a section you could ignore.

Now it is HUGE, with crap expensive food, lots’a pokies and sucks.

It started to go down hill when they removed the squash courts. 🙂

Bosworth said :

I’ve heard friends say that it is comercially non-viable to operate a sports club in canberra without pokies. Is this true?

Depends. If a sports club without pokies were to compete against a sports club with pokies, it wouldn’t survive very long. If there were fewer pokies across the board, however, I’m sure they could survive (as they used to survive in the past).

<rant>

neanderthalsis said :

Skidbladnir said :

…each machine rakes in over $60k cash revenue per annum.

Mrs Neanderthalsis and I do the occasional cheap monday/tuesday steak offering with the hordes of others at the Belco labour club. You would say that this would be peak trade for the club…

No I wouldn’t.
My guess would be that peak demand is on pension days, paydays and maybe weekends.
Belconnen Labor Club has the highest per machine income in the Territory, so regardless of when you visit the club and see the machines empty, the machines are being intensively farmed on at least a few nights per week.
For every night that there’s nobody playing, there’s a different night where the machine sees over average demand to compensate.
Canberra Labor Club in FY08-09 had 272 licensed machines currently.
They reported they received $16,400,228 in total GGMR (Gross Gaming Machine Revenue) in FY08-09.
“GGMR is the total of all moneys inserted into machines less winnings to players and approved amounts set aside for the payment of linked jackpots.”
IE: $60,294.96 pre-tax cash per machine each year.
Throughput needs to be $602,949.56 per machine to allow this, with total throughput around the $165mil mark (my estimate assuming a 90cent per each dollar return to player).

neanderthalsis said :

…cheap monday/tuesday steak…the dining room is full and the trivia is packed, yet you see very few people on the pokies.

By your own admission, your sampling bias is being there on the nights that people with a cost-sensitivity for “a cheap feed or honest entertainment ” are sufficiently motivated to have a night out.
Pokies aren’t cheap or honest entertainment.
They’re legally allowed to take money from people, at a rate up to 17 cents on the dollar.
To cash out a ‘win’ on a machine, the pool of users needs to have put in more than that already, so you’re already talking about people with a pocketful of disposable cash.
(So I’d suggest visiting on paydays or weekends if you want to see people burn through money, see earlier comment about intensive pokie farming…)

</rant>

Bosworth said :

I’ve heard friends say that it is comercially non-viable to operate a sports club in canberra without pokies. Is this true?

Also, I have a question to those that complain about pokies: What are the possible solutions to the pokie problem?

Simple solution: blow up the pokies and drag them away.

I’ve heard friends say that it is comercially non-viable to operate a sports club in canberra without pokies. Is this true?

Also, I have a question to those that complain about pokies: What are the possible solutions to the pokie problem?