Media Release

Saturday, 26 April 2008

POKIES HURT THE MOST VULNERABLE

The devastation of pokies was detailed today when two problem gamblers spoke of the shame and devastation caused by pokies – revealed today in The Weekend Australian.

Fairfield Councillor Thang Ngo said the spread of pokies in socially disadvantaged areas has meant that those who could least afford to lose money, were the most affected.

“ Fairfield , in Sydney ’s south west is one of the most socially disadvantaged local government areas in NSW, but we lose almost $330m each year to pokies” he said.

“That’s 78% of household disposable income”.

Cr Ngo has spoken to the problem gamblers identified in today’s Weekend Australian and said: “There are hundreds of cases like this, of lives destroyed, of families torn apart” he said.

It will take single mother, Ms Tran (not her real name) almost 5 years to repay her gambling debt according to Cr Ngo.

Fairfield already has the most number of pokies per population in NSW, yet the there are currently two applications for a total of 90 more pokies in the area.

Cr Thang Ngo called on the NSW government to immediately legislate to reduce the number of pokies in his local government area.

“Pokies revenue might be addictive to the state government, but that addiction could be destroying the lives of my constituents” he said.

Contact: Fairfield Councillor Thang Ngo – 0410 33 88 33

For more information and statistics: www.thangngo.com