Rocky punters in pokie splash

Malcolm Black believes there are many better ways to spend money than on poker machines.

Chris Ison

Related links

• Fitzroy pokies fling: $100m

AT the height of the region’s floods, Central Queensland punters were pouring their cash into pokie machines.

It was the biggest January intake for the Fitzroy region as gamblers flooded in to clubs and pubs to slot their earnings.

The $8,398,957 spent was more than $1 million more than in January 2010 and about $600,000 more than in January 2009, when the region had more poker machines (see accompanying fact box).

The big spend has prompted some, like London’s Malcolm Black, to ask how much of government payouts to flood-affected residents was spent in the pokie splash-out.

Yesterday Mr Black had a clear message for those who played pokies. “Don’t waste your money, it’s a mug’s game,” he said.

He said he wasn’t surprised by people spending more during troubled times.

“I saw the floods here,” Mr Black said.

“I was back home but it was all on the news.

“I tend to think that when people have suffered they look to make a quid back or two.

“But this isn’t the right way to do it.”

Clubs Queensland CEO Doug Flockhart said Queensland continued to see about a 2% downturn annual in machine gaming.

Mr Flockhart said between 30% and 40% played the machines, with only 15% of those regulars.

He said clubs provided many positives for the communities they operated within.

Pouring in

What pokie players in the Fitzroy region spent in:

January 2011: $8,308,957

January 2010: $7,144,136

January 2009: $7,710,006

The year 2010: $94,825,260.