Victorian RSL clubs spent only 1.5% of pokies revenue on veteran welfare, study finds

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Victorian RSL clubs spent only 1.5% of pokies revenue on veteran welfare, study finds
Author: Donna Lu
Published: Jan, 19 2025 14:01

Financial analysis shows clubs took $2.1bn in gambling revenue over 10-year period but spent 12 times more on business expenses than support programs. Only 1.5% of the money lost by gamblers in poker machines in Victorian RSLs over several years went towards improving veteran welfare, new research shows.

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Image Credit: the Guardian [Does community sport and free-to-air TV in Australia need gambling ads to survive? – video]

The study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, analysed records submitted to the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission over a 10-year period. Between 2009 and 2019, it found, licensed RSL (Returned and Services League of Australia) clubs in the state netted $2.097bn in revenue from gambling.

A detailed analysis within that period showed that for every $100 lost on pokies, only $1.50 was spent on veteran support. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email. There are nearly 300 RSLs in Victoria, of which more than 50 are licensed for poker machines.

In order to receive tax concessions, the RSLs are required to spend 8.3% of gambling revenue on “community contributions” each year. However, clubs can claim operating expenses – including wages and venue maintenance – as community contributions.

The RSLs spent less than 10% of their reported community contributions directly on veteran support, the study found. Dr Louise Francis of Curtin University, the study’s lead author, said the contribution scheme amounted to a “legitimation tactic” for the gambling industry, in which acts of philanthropy divert attention from the harm gambling causes.

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