AUSTRALIA'S first legislation to cut pokie numbers came into effect in South Australia yesterday, but the first of 3000 machines will not be removed from hotels for six months.
The Liquor and Gambling Commissioner began notifying hotels yesterday of a complex trading system for poker machines to reduce numbers from 15,000 to 12,000 that begins in July.
Venues with 28 or more machines must cut numbers by eight, while those with between 21 and 27 machines must go back to 20. Sporting clubs and the Adelaide casino were exempted.
No Pokies MP Nick Xenophon, whose seven-year campaign against poker machines forced the Rann Government to act, described the move as a good first step.
But he said he doubted that removing the poker machines would ease problem gambling.
"While I welcome any reduction in the number of pokies, the people of South Australia need to know that Treasury's own budget forecasts have stated that this measure will lead to a reduction (only) in the rate of growth of gambling losses from 5.5 per cent to 5 per cent -- no big deal," he said.
Treasury received about $300million in gaming machine revenue in the last financial year.
However, government forecasts say gambling expenditure will not decline for another two years until smoking bans in hotels are fully in force.
Mr Xenophon said the Government and most of the Opposition caved in to the "pokie barons" who operate multiple hotel gaming venues, by delaying smoking bans until October 31, 2007.
"An immediate ban would have had a much bigger impact in reducing pokies losses and problem gambling," Mr Xenophon said.
The first tranche of cuts -- totalling 2168 machines -- begins in six months.
Hotel licensees receive one entitlement for every machine they operate, to allow them to buy and sell machines during designated trading periods, the first of which begins in March.
Further trading comes again in July to allow venues that have lost machines to "trade up" and possibly regain machines.
Hotels will remove a further 900 machines by selling them through the trade system, relinquishing one machine entitlement for every three they sell.
The state division of the Australian Hotels Association said there were better ways to target problem gambling.
One licensee, Chris Binns, co-owner of the Robin Hood Hotel in Norwood, described the move as "simply inconveniencing the gaming industry".
The hotel operates 32 poker machines, and will be required to remove eight, which Mr Binns said would be a costly proposition.
"These machines cost us $10,000 to $12,000 to buy new," he said. "For eight of them, that's nearly $100,000 of plant and equipment confiscated and rendered useless without any compensation."
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