Australian locals up the ante for casinos

 

 

Locals up the ante for casinos

 

Profits from the nation's 13 casinos have risen above $3 billion for the first time, and Australians are making up for a drop in international visitors.

 

Operating profits increased by $537 million in 2000-01, up 19 per cent on the previous year, with gambling contributing $2.5 billion of an overall $3.14 billion net profit, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported yesterday.

 

Gaming tables took $1.5 billion (up 2 per cent), followed by poker and gaming machines at $1 billion (up 9 per cent), and Keno, at $19 million (down 11 per cent).

 

This represented a loss of $71 for every adult Australian on poker and gaming machines, and $59 per head for gaming tables.

 

Australia's casinos now house 10,853 gaming machines, an increase of 28 machines on the previous year. The number of gaming tables declined by 8 per cent, from 1119 in 2000.

 

Peter Grimshaw, of Sydney's Star City, said the casino had a tough year last year due to a couple of large wins in the international high-roller business sbobetindonesia. But, he added, it offered more than just playing tables.

 

"When visitors want to come to Sydney and they want a bit of night life, we're probably running the best shows at the moment, and while they're here they can have a meal and ... go on the tables or machines as well. So, really, we've got a variety of entertainment in the one venue."

 

The spokesman for the Inter-Church Gambling Taskforce, the Rev Tim Costello, said gaming machines provided people with an escape from their problems in "an increasingly worrying world", and this accounted for their increased popularity.

 

"It's the fulfilment of our prophecy when Crown [Casino in Melbourne] was built ... targeting overseas people, and we said it will end up simply devouring local people ... and their savings, marriages [and] hopes, and that's exactly what's happening," he said.

 

Mr Costello wants the Government to stop casinos using gaming machines that take banknotes, to pay winnings above $200 by cheque, to remove ATMs from casinos, and to prevent the Crown Casino from allowing players to draw on credit.

 

The annual casino industry survey, released on Monday by economic consultants ACIL, found the industry paid $496.5 million in gaming taxes and contributed $2.15 billion to the economy, including wages and taxes. This was the largest contribution on record.

 

The report estimated that 38.7 million people visited Australia's casinos last year and gambling an average $1.4 million on each gaming table.

 

Overseas players accounted for only 18 per cent of total gaming revenue this year, down from 35 per cent when the survey series began eight years ago.

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