Pull pokie signs down from clubs and hotels

[kopilo]

The Independent Gambling Authority wants hotels and clubs to pull down signs advertising poker machines.


It has foreshadowed a ban on all external signs from 2008 as part of its efforts to minimise problem gambling in South Australia. The proposal has been floated in a letter from IGA director Robert Chappell to industry stakeholders on Friday.

Read the rest of the artical here

Personally I'm for the standardisation of gambling signs, I don't want them pulled down so I can be aware of what establishments support gambling.

 

[Lynden1000]

Is gambling legal in Australia? If so, I think hotels and casinos should be able to advertise their services just like any other company.

Just another case of the government wanting to be everybody's babysitter.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

That's hurting someone's business and livelyhood based on the moral opinion of few. It's wrong. That's like telling a private restaurant owner that he can't advertise because some people have a problem with over-eating...it's ridiculous.

 

[Konkurrent]

Must... do... what... sign... tells... me...

 

[TheMissus]

Is gambling legal in Australia? If so, I think hotels and casinos should be able to advertise their services just like any other company.

Just another case of the government wanting to be everybody's babysitter.

Gambling's legal for establishments with gambling licenses.

Hotels, at least the hotels referred to in the article, are bars with some bare-bones rooms on the second floor. Most bars and clubs in Australia have video poker, slots and blackjack machines for the drunk people to waste their money on.

The funny thing is, almost every single hotel, pub, and club I'd been in in Australia had some kind of video gambling machine. They don't really need to advertise when it's pretty much a given that the place would have something. As such, I really don't see how taking the signs down would accomplish anything. Would taking the beer signs out of the windows discourage drinking? Nope, probably not.

 

[ebia]

For the benefit of those outside Australia, it is worth pointing out that some Australian states get a huge proportion of their state budgets from taxes on gambling, and therefore those governments have a vested interest in encouraging gambling - which is not a good position to be in.

 

[kopilo]

Must... do... what... sign... tells... me...

ROFLMAO! nice