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Pokies unsafe, Xenophon tells industry



Printer Friendly VersionPost a CommentTell a Friend about this Article24 August 2008
As reported by: AAP
Anti-pokies campaigner and incoming senator Nick Xenophon told the gaming industry's annual summit that poker machines were "inherently unsafe" and conference attendees were deliberately ignoring the damage they caused.

The independent MP from South Australia, who will take his seat in the newly formed Senate later this week, addressed delegates at the Australasian Gaming Expo, where organisers said he was on the speakers' roster to bring a different perspective.

In a no-holds-barred speech which drew only muted clapping at the close, Senator Xenophon told the assembled poker machine manufacturers and operators, also including representatives from New Zealand, that he wanted to shut the pokies industry down.

"Your machines are inherently unsafe," he told attendees in Sydney.

"When other products have been found to cause significant harm to a significant number of users, they have been banned."

Senator Xenophon said according to Productivity Commission data from 1999 one in 20 poker machine users went on to become a problem gambler.

"The people who make your industry so wealthy ... are so addicted to your product that they will jeopardise their own financial well-being and the well-being of their families," he said.

"They will steal from their partners, their bosses and their children, just to churn money through your machines.


Article By: AAP

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