Pokies And Smokes, A New Try-on

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday December 11, 2008

TIMES are tough, and along with makers of gas-guzzling cars and polluting industries, the pubs and clubs are joining the rush of industries crying hardship. Poker machine takings are drastically down since the introduction of the indoor smoking ban in NSW last year. As a result, hundreds of staff are being laid off, and charities and sporting clubs across the state will be devastated by the reduced flow of donations from this big-hearted industry.

Actually, the publicans and club boards so far seem to be doing their bit for the community, with charitable donations declining by only $8.9 million despite a $616 million drop in pokie takings over the year to June.

But even if donations drop further, society will be better off if the ban helps discourage these twin addictions. Licensed gambling is, of course, a regressive form of income taxation, sucking money from lower income groups. Smoking likewise is disproportionately prevalent among the less educated and the disadvantaged, with a one-pack-a-day habit extracting $18,200 from their pockets over five years.

The loss of charitable and sporting money derived from smokers now discouraged from playing the machines is far less than the social and economic costs of smoking to NSW. The Cancer Council puts these at a total $7 billion a year in overall health and social costs just in this state. Estimates of the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses by the NSW health system have ranged from $343 million to more than $800 million a year. Such illnesses claim some 6500 lives in NSW each year, with 150 hospital admissions a day.

The fall-off in pokie revenue was not unexpected when the smoking ban was introduced, and venues have been given tax deferments to ease the transition. But the fall should be accepted as one price of our new emphasis on preventive medicine, which seeks to eradicate the stubborn remnants of the smoking habit, and moderate the practice of binge-drinking as well. The clubs and pubs don't speak for society. The vast majority of people find breathing other people's second-hand smoke distasteful.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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