Back in black?

One of the Hodgman government’s claim that always seems to pass without challenge is the proposition that the budget, being back in black is now able to withstand more spending.

The almost universal view is that we now have the necessary cash buffer to be able to loosen the purse strings a little and give ourselves a treat after a few years of austerity.

However, reality has a different perspective.

RSL pokie porkies

The release of player loss figures for each individual pokie venue casts a huge pall of doubt over the claims by the Glenorchy RSL that removal of pokies will be the swan song for the Club and the end of life as we know it.

The Club’s haul for the 2015/16 year, the total of player losses, was $590,000. This is only a fraction of the $4.5 million lost at the Mecca of misery, the Elwick Hotel just up the road with the same number of machines.

But with losses of about $20,000 per pokie there’s no money being made by the Club. Anyone familiar with the industry knows that when player losses slip below $20,000 per pokie it’s time to summon the pokie machine undertaker.

Election odds

The absence of any reliable polling during the current election campaign has left most observers scratching their heads as to what is exactly happening in the minds of voters.

What are the betting markets saying?

Liberal pokie gifts

Andrew Wilkie in his latest media release reckons the Federal Group is “set to pocket an enormous $18 million windfall if the Liberals win government.”

Nonsense.

The figure is $75 million.

There’s obviously a bit of misunderstanding about how the Libs’ pokie industry welfare policy works. The value of pubs and clubs with pokies will receive a boost with increased pokie commission. If the venues are given licenses for a set period, then the amount of those future commissions will reflect in enhanced capital values of venues. If the licenses are in perpetuity, then the value of pubs and clubs with pokies will increase by $250 million.

Love your local

Just tuned into the latest Love Your Local promo on the LYL facebook page featuring the Beach Hotel Burnie. It was surprisingly frank. Whilst it only gave half the story that half was reasonably truthful. But telling only half the story can be misleading.