Victoria-based rugby team the Melbourne Storm announced its plans to return to gambling through the application for a new pokie machine venue. The announcement comes less than a year after the NRL team decided to wean itself off pokie revenue. The establishment, which will be located in Melbourne’s Truganina suburb, is to house a total of eighty slot machines, or pokies as Australians call them.
According to a planning application filed to the Wyndham City Council, the venue is to be located within a new hotel and hospitality building nineteen kilometres away from the city’s center, in proximity to a newly developed residential area.
The new pokie room is to welcome customers from 7 am to 3 am, in compliance with the 20-hour maximum operational restrictions imposed by local authorities. The gaming room is expected to yield AU$7.5 million to AU$8.7 million in revenue in its first year of operation alone.
Most of these profits are expected to come from the pockets of Truganina residents who presently wager on pokies at other venues. According to the planning application, the new gaming room would make a negligible difference in the locals’ problem gaming behaviour, with an expected increase in net losses ranging from AU$1.2 million to AU$1.9 million for the planned venue.
At the same time, the Melbourne suburb would benefit from the new gaming club as well as the rugby team plans to donate cash to local community groups. The venue would also help create new jobs in the area through its construction and operation.
Melbourne Storm’s Co-Owner Refers to the New Venue as a “Necessary Evil”
The news comes less than a year after the rugby team announced it plans to reduce its reliance on gambling revenue and expand its club membership base. Matthew Tripp, co-owner of the NRL club, explained this change of heart with the team’s necessity of improving its financial affairs, referring to the application as a “necessary evil”. The club managed to stabilise its financial situation after its current owners purchased it from News Corp six years ago.
Earlier this year, the owners of the rugby club gained massive dividends through the sale of Melbourne Storm’s pokie machines in Kealba Hotel. The team earned the hefty sum of AU$13 million by selling the hotel along with the license for the 172 pokies it contained to IPR Hotels Limited. The pokie room generated AU$20 million from gaming losses per year.
Tony Mohr, who heads the Alliance for Gambling Reform organisation, called the team’s decision to return to this potentially detrimental industry disappointing. According to Mr Mohr, most AFL teams in the Australian state have moved away from pokies and Melbourne Storm should follow suit to demonstrate that gambling and sports do not necessarily go hand in hand.
The backlash from anti-gambling groups has indeed caused some AFL teams to back out on the pokie industry, with some of the primary examples being the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, Collingwood, and Geelong. Despite this, many rugby teams still rely heavily on these machines for generating revenue.
The Wyndham City Council is to vote on the proposed gambling project in early 2020. Representatives of the Melbourne Storm rugby club declined to address Mr Mohr’s comments.
- Author
Daniel Williams
