One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on March 06, 2013, 02:18:37 AM
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Carlton hits pok er machine jackpot
Michael Warner
From: Herald Sun
March 06, 2013
AFL POKIES LADDER
What your club reaps from the new pokies tax laws ...
Machines Revenue to club %increase
Carlton 290 $16.8m 130%
Hawthorn 155 $13.3m 93%
Essendon 190 $5.8m 134%
Collingwood 180 $5.6m 119%
Geelong 180 $5.2m 141%
Melbourne 172 $4.7m 147%
Richmond 87 $2.3m 150%
W. Bulldogs 50 $1.7m 121%
St Kilda 83 $1.6m 203%
N. Melbourne 0 0 0
Total 1397 $42.9m 127%
* See the full table in today's Herald Sun
Source: VCGLR, calculations by Monash University
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CARLTON has hit a $16.8 million jackpot thanks to new Victorian pok er machine laws.
And combined annual revenues for the nine Victorian clubs with pokies will climb by $42.9 million to $76.8 million.
A Monash University report reveals the Blues will gorge on gaming revenues this year -- more than doubling what they took in 2012.
Hawthorn will also cash in, with their cut of revenues under the industry's new tax regime set to soar to $13.3 million.
Collingwood and Essendon will also smash through the $10 million barrier.
The Blues control 290 money-spinning machines at four hotels gifted by club powerbroker and pokies king Bruce Mathieson.
Ten-year licenses to run Victorian pokies were auctioned at bargain prices by the Brumby government in 2010 and came into affect in August last year.
The new model has been criticised for being far too generous to venue operators.
Nine out of 10 Victorian AFL clubs control pok er machines.
North Melbourne is the only Victorian club without pokies because of a no-gambling policy introduced by the club's board last year.
Critics say the move has made it "nearly impossible'' for North to compete financially.
The Western Bulldogs, who control just 50 machines, have proposed a plan forcing clubs to share the spoils of bumper pok ies profits in a bid to close the gap between the AFL's richest and poorest clubs.
Carlton said the Bulldogs' plan "won't be happening''.
The Monash University report is based on modelling of the state's new pokies tax arrangements and player losses from 2011-12 tabled by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.
Blues chief executive Greg Swann said the figures did not take into account the club's $10 million debt and the expenses of running the venues.
"We've still got to pay for the machines and there's a lot of debt that we carry as well,'' Swann said.
"We would be lucky to net $3.5 million out of that.''
Mathieson and his pokies partner Woolworths also take a chunk of the profits in exchange for managing the venues.
But Swann admitted the club's pokies profits would soar in the back end of the 10-year licences after the debt was cleared.
Monash University gambling researcher Dr Charles Livingstone said the government's new tax regime had gifted pokies owners a licence to print money.
"How the venues -- in this case the AFL clubs -- manage this stream of revenue is their business,'' Livingstone said.
"The point is that they are cashing in on a bonanza essentially gifted to them by the government and which has clearly failed to deliver appropriate value to the people of Victoria.''
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/carlton-hits-pok er-machine-jackpot/story-e6frf9jf-1226591023028
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I am strangley comforted by that for two reasons, we can raise revenue from other sources without too a heavy reliance on machines and the other is my belief that pokies are a ........umm, i'll leave it that.
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No need to leave it at that, we're hardly prudes
Please continue
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Same old Carlton.
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No need to leave it at that, we're hardly prudes
Please continue
.............a scourge on society.
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Norf, ah well :facepalm
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wasnt it some carlton bloke that took the pokies off other clubs
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No need to leave it at that, we're hardly prudes
Please continue
.............a scourge on society.
Very true....I would rather we didn't get one cent from them. I really respect Norf's stand on this issue.
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No need to leave it at that, we're hardly prudes
Please continue
.............a scourge on society.
Very true....I would rather we didn't get one cent from them. I really respect Norf's stand on this issue.
And we are not prudes.
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wasnt it some carlton bloke that took the pokies off other clubs
Yep.
Bruce Mathieson set up a huge hotel/pokies empire and then got even bigger when he joined with Woolworths.
They are now the biggest pokies operator in Victoria and made a killing on the new pokie laws where operators now own the licences.
Previously Tabcorp and Tatts owned the machines and got a third of the profits.
The owner/operator licences were auctioned off and Mathieson bought a heap of licences cheap for Carlton.
(A few other clubs got licences on a good deal, IIRC we got screwed on the price of ours)
As the below article tells it he gave five venues to Carlton - probably really just the profits if you looked close.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/blues-powerbroker-bruce-mathieson-wants-shake-up/story-e6frf9jf-1226415081335
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Someone has to pay for Sticks' singing lessons
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Going forward this is an area the club I hope has taken some action on.Can we compete with the clubs raking in mega dollars from pokies with just increased membership,sponsorship and going to our suppoters cap in hand.
With time my belief in CEO gale and committee has grown ,but I sure hope they are finding other income streams or we might once again get left behind
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Would rather not get into gambling for income.
Respect North for their stand!
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Would rather not get into gambling for income.
Respect North for their stand!
Great stand to make. Not sure it's the right club to be making it though? :whistle