TASMANIA MUST LEAD THE WAY ON POKIE REFORM: Power-Sharing Parliament Can Deliver a $1 Bet Limit

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today urged Labor to stand up for pokie victims and their families by supporting a state-based $1 bet limit on poker machines.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that there were no more excuses to delay the implementation of a pokies $1 bet limit in Tasmania, especially now [...]

May 21, 2013

POKIES $1 BET LIMIT: WHY HAVE LIBERALS BACK-FLIPPED ON PREVIOUS COMMITMENT? Power-Sharing Parliament Can Deliver Real Reform

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today urged the State Liberals to reconsider and vote in support of introducing the $1 bet limit on poker machines, saying they have a real opportunity to make a real difference for Tasmanians.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that need for real pokie reform is urgent, especially [...]

May 19, 2013

GAMBLING RESEARCH CENTRE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTION ON POKIES

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today said the $5.4 million Federal Budget allocation for the Australian Gambling Research Centre was a good step, but was no substitute for genuine action to reduce the harm from poker machines.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that in the absence of any Federal Government plan beyond [...]

May 15, 2013

LIBERALS CAN TACKLE GAMBLING ADDICTION: BACK A $1 BET LIMIT

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today welcomed the Federal Liberal Party’s newfound concern for the victims of gambling addiction, and urged the State Liberals to support upcoming legislation to reduce the impact of poker machine addiction in Tasmania.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said Tony Abbott’s call to ban live betting during televised [...]

May 6, 2013

NO MORE EXCUSES ON STATE-BASED POKIES REFORM

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today said Labor and Liberal had now run out of excuses for delaying a state-based $1 bet limit on poker machines, with the ACT pre-commitment trial delayed indefinitely and claims of ‘sovereign risk’ now completely debunked.
In the House of Assembly today, Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth questioned the [...]

March 6, 2013

TIME TO REVIEW FEDERAL’S SWEETHEART POKIES DEAL

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today called on the Labor Party to review the deed agreement granting Federal Hotels a monopoly pokies licence, in light of the company’s decision to walk away from the lease for the West Coast Wilderness Railway.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said although Minister Scott Bacon had recently [...]

February 12, 2013

POKIES LOSSES HIGHLIGHT URGENT NEED FOR $1 BET LIMIT: Call for Liberal/Labor to Support Greens Bill

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today said the latest monthly in arrears poker machine loss figures for Tasmania showed losses increased by more than half a million dollars in December last year, bringing the total for 2012 to just under $200 million.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said the figures should put pressure [...]

February 1, 2013

GREENS CALL FOR BAN ON POKIES HEADPHONE OUTLETS

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens called on Treasurer Lara Giddings to commit to a ban on gaming machines with plug in headphones, in line with similar moves by the Victorian Government.
Backing calls today from anti-pokies campaigners for a national ban, Tasmanian Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said the technology would cause even [...]

December 3, 2012

WHAT A DISGRACE… LIBERAL PARTY BACKFLIPS ON $1 POKIE BET LIMIT: Greens Dissent from Pokies Committee Report

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today condemned the Liberal Party for its backflip on a $1 bet limit on poker machines, following the handing down of a report by the Parliamentary Select Committee examining the issue.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP, who today issued a dissenting report, said that the Labor and Liberal [...]

November 21, 2012

$15.7 MILLION LOST ON THE POKIES IN SEPTEMBER

Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today said that Tasmanians collectively lost $15,778,711 on pokies in the month of September, yet another unacceptable hit to the community’s most vulnerable that takes the toll for the year to $133,868,205.
Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said the Gaming Commission figures published on the Treasury and Finance [...]

November 1, 2012