The Wire

Pubs and Clubs have today launched a campaign to head off further regulation of poker machines. They say that the independent Andrew Wilkie is holding the government to ransom. Gambling reforms were part of a deal that secured Andrew Wilkie’s support for Labor to govern. Wilkie is currently the chair of a parliamentary committee looking into ways for people who play the pokies, to set a limit in advance, for how much they’re prepared to lose. The campaign by pubs and clubs has attracted the ire of long-time anti-pokies campaigner, Senator Nick Xenphon, who says the advertisements are full of fabricated ideas about the proposed reforms.