Women top poker clients

WOMEN are now the top poker machine clients beating the males, Milne Bay Governor Tim Neville said during Parliament debate yesterday.
Mr Neville and Inter-Government Relations Minister Sir Peter Barter both agreed that more consultations are needed across the country before an Act to outlaw poker machines is introduced.
The debate followed the introduction of a Bill in Parliament to ban poker machines in the country. There were reservations yesterday from both sides of the House regarding the Bill, given its economic and legal implications.
Mr Neville said prior to 1993 when the National Gaming Board was established to administer the Gaming Machines Act 1993 and, in particular, oversee and regulate the operations of poker machines, widespread indulgence and dependence on the alcoholic beverage by a sizeable portion of the country’s male population was thought to be the number one menace.
He said it had been 12 years since the introduction of the poker machines that had eroded the social fabrics of the nation and inflicting immeasurable damage to families.
“The total picture in a nutshell is that thousands of Papua New Guineans today suffer the anguish of miseries brought upon them through uncontrolled consumption of alcohol, and this is compounded by the pressing economic problems caused through over indulgence in the different forms of gambling, both legal as well as the illegal ones,” he said.
He said thousands of Papua New Guineans have unconsciously become victims of a vicious circle pf poverty and deprivation.
He said quite a number of sitting parliamentarians have fallen victims to this dreaded social evil.
“We, as leaders, must make tough choices and Parliament as the highest law making institution has a moral and constitutional duty to institute appropriate measures to salvage the nation from ruin,” he said.
Minister Barter said he lost his voice fighting against the introduction of poker machines.
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