MOYNE Shire residents have given an emphatic thumbs down to poker machines being wheeled into their municipality, a large survey has revealed.
Close to 1500 of the 1723 council survey respondents - more than 90 per cent - noted their opposition to hotels and clubs within the shire allowing automated gambling on their premises.
Unsurprisingly, most survey respondents were based in the Port Fairy district, reflecting community support for an initiative set up last year to block poker machine venues from being set up in the seaside town.
No Pokies for Moyne campaigner Es Warmuth said she was impressed with the survey's findings and hoped the council would respond in kind.
She claimed that majority survey support for keeping poker machines out of the Moyne Shire reflected wider community sentiment.
"It's fantastic news. I really think it would be hard for any pub or club to push pokies into the shire now," Ms Warmuth said.
"What people are saying is that they're comfortable with having them based in Warrnambool and not encroaching on country areas.
"Business is largely behind it as well because it means disposable income is spent in cafes, shops and other services."
No application to establish a pokies venue in the Moyne Shire has been lodged during the past 12 months.
Moyne Shire community and corporate support officer Steve Dawkins said the shire is one of only nine municipalities to remain pokies-free out of Victoria's 79 local government areas.
He said the survey would be noted by councillors at tonight's meeting in Mortlake who would vote on the development of a formal council policy on pokie machines.
"We were quite surprised by the number of surveys returned to the shire, it was quite a sizeable number," Mr Dawkins said.
“I’m not aware of the last time the council issued a survey to gain a community snapshot on a single issue.
“The strong response can be attributed in part to the community campaign against gaming machine development in the shire.”
Anti-pokies campaigners would make it difficult for any pub to establish a pokies venue in Port Fairy, Koroit, Mortlake or Peterborough with strong “no” votes to setting up club gambling venues near shopping precincts, schools and kindergartens, churches, residential areas, main roads and industrial areas.
Out of all areas identified as potential pokies preferred sites, respondents indicated they were more comfortable with automated gambling being set up in industrial areas than all other precincts identified in the survey.
Also included in the survey were questions related to “slow-gamble” measures and which initiatives Moyne Shire residents would support.
Majority support was given to time limits on poker machines, limiting losses to $200 per person per hour and a keeping automated teller machines away from pokie venues.
Email a friend