Electronic Monitoring Welcomed

Electronic Monitoring Welcomed [08/03/07]

Problem Gambling Foundation CEO, John Stansfield is pleased that money from 20,000 non-casino pokie machines should be able to be more easily tracked shortly.

Mr Stansfield congratulates the Department of Internal Affairs on completing the connection of the machines to a new Electronic Monitoring System which will track and monitor the operations of pokies in pubs and clubs.

“The ability to track the flow of pokie money is critical if the public is going to get the level of transparency it expects from pokie owners and operators,” he says.

Mr Stansfield says that the Gambling Act aims to facilitate community involvement in decisions about the provision of gambling.

“The successful connection of EMS is a further step towards making this a reality. Until now it has been difficult for communities to be involved because of a lack of information about the flow of money.”

Mr Stansfield says the next challenge for the Department is making sure that data is made available to communities in a useful form.

“I know they are working on this and we look forward to the day when there is total transparency around the financial workings of the pokie trusts,” he says.

ENDS

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