Rather than retiring, the pokies king decided to have another crack at business — he started a rival pokies company called Ainsworth, which he runs to this day. “We talk about the ‘Western Australian Model’ of keeping pokies out of pubs and clubs, but WA is consistent with global practice”, Mr Browne says. “Over 2.7 million Australians aged 18+ (14.2%) have used a poker machine in an average three months, significantly higher than the 2 million Australians (10.5%) who have placed a bet on a horse race, harness race, greyhounds or sporting event covered in last week’s release. The Labor and Liberal parties are too close to the gambling industry and too afraid to take them on. Before the 2018 election combined Labor and the Liberal took almost $1 million in donations from the pokies industry. For years, the Chinese Communist Party had allowed Chau to build his junket empire, even though it appeared to conflict with the party’s anti-gambling edicts.
Corporate filings show he remains listed as a director of at least two Suncity Australian companies. In 1956, the pokies became legal in the pubs and clubs of New South Wales and Ainsworth’s dreams grew bigger. Research by The Australia Institute reveals just how addicted New South Wales is to poker machines. “It’s worth understanding that over three-quarters of Australia’s 200,000 poker machines are located in NSW/ACT and Queensland.
A pokies-free Victoria
- Chau’s Australian business flourished between 2012 and 2019, helping to earn him enough capital to finance action movies in Hong Kong and major casino projects in Russia and Asia.
- A new report See full report in PDF below from The Australia Institute Tasmania finds that Australia’s 187,000 pub and club poker machines represent 76% of the world’s poker machines outside of casinos and other dedicated venues.
- By 2017, according to official sources in state and federal agencies – who requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak publicly – ACIC had drawn a direct line between Chau and a Hong Kong crime boss, Cheng Ting Kong.
- When federal detectives examined his financial dealings, they uncovered a $403,000 deposit into a gaming account at The Star Sydney.
- The public reporting of Chau’s activities in Australia at the NSW Bergin inquiry and at the Finkelstein royal commission in Victoria placed Chinese authorities in a bind.
Sydney’s The Star Entertainment casino firm was just as eager to woo Chau to access his contact list of Chinese high rollers. St Kilda Football Club wishes to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which the club sits. The club pays its respects to elders past, present and emerging, and through them, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples whose lands and waters we work, live and reside on.
The intrusion of poker machines into hotels and clubs is something other countries do not experience, and yet in NSW and other states in Australia, it has become endemic. While in Victoria we have banned gambling advertising on public transport and near schools, advertising is still allowed in other public spaces, at sports grounds and on broadcast television and digital media. And the sheer saturation of gambling advertisements on television and on social media means Victorians, including children and young people, are exposed to higher rates of gambling advertising than ever before. We see an average of 948 gambling ads a day on free-to-air TV – an increase of massive 253 per cent since 2016.
But currently pokies in Victoria are taxed on a sliding scale depending on average monthly revenue, from 0% up to 60.67%. In the wake of the Royal Commission into Crown Casino, the Labor Government has introduced some long-overdue gambling reforms for gaming at the casino, including requiring mandatory pre-commitment on gaming machines from 2025. But in Victoria, just 2,628 of the state’s 30,000 pokies are in the casino, while the rest are out in community pubs and clubs.
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Crims, casinos and communists: How Australia turned the screws on Alvin Chau
The types of games you can play at an online casino with $5 minimum deposit usually involve plenty of pokies, live casino games, table games, poker, and more. Despite starting with a low deposit casino choice, you still get access to all the games, and more often than not, there’s also a welcome bonus you can claim at 5 dollar deposit casinos. These ten dollar deposit online casino sites are fully licensed and regulated, and they don’t compromise on any important safety and security aspect. The lower deposit amount makes them especially appealing to players trying out a site for the first time. Many $10 Neosurf deposit casinos Australia also offer welcome bonuses, such as free spins or deposit matches, to boost your starting balance. “Only 241,000 of the world’s poker machines are outside of dedicated gaming venues – of which 183,000 are in Australian pubs and clubs.
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight. Problem gambling is a serious public health issue that affects individuals, families and communities. The financial stress caused by gambling addiction can lead to family breakdown, job loss, depression and suicide. There are established links between problem gambling, family violence and violent crime. The fine print of the bourse’s corporate governance principles shows Richard White and the remaining board members are in a rather urgent pickle. The CEO of Australia’s biggest private hospital operator has flagged greater AI adoption as a way to help improve services.
But Australia, led by NSW, is odd in allowing these machines into family venues like pubs and clubs. Only a quarter of countries with poker machines let them operate outside of casinos, gambling halls and other dedicated gambling venues. They’re perfect for players who want to start low, and we’ll show you what exactly you can expect from these casino sites.
However much of the tax revenue goes straight back to the racing industry through the Victorian Racing Industry payment. The Greens will implement a $200m transition fund to help smaller venues that want to get out of pokies immediately transition to new revenue streams. In the longer term, Victoria must find new revenue sources to replace taxes on pokies. We simply can’t keep relying on this immoral industry to prop up our state finances.