MELBOURNE has walked away from sponsorships with sports betting companies and will commit to embedding responsible gambling practices in its venues.

The club became the ninth in the AFL to sign the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s responsible gambling charter. The A-League’s Melbourne Victory, the Melbourne Stars and Renegades from the Big Bash League and more than 150 local sporting clubs from across the state have also signed the charter.

Club signs responsible gambling charter

this should be an afl policy and standard across the board. i wonder if that means that the club continue to take profits from poker machines? i think its pretty gross that they do at present. yes, a big profit earner for the club, but at what cost? until that ceases, the dees and jackson cannot pretend to stand on the moral high ground.

the age reported in 2014: 

"Only five AFL clubs made a profit in 2013 without the assistance of poker machines, according to figures presented to the clubs by the AFL.

And remarkably, one of the clubs that made a pokies-free profit was North Melbourne, which made a decision to avoid poker machines from its business model, and is among the smallest clubs for revenue.

The five clubs that made a profit without non-football revenue - almost all of which is from poker machine venues - were Collingwood, Richmond, West Coast, Fremantle and North Melbourne. The Kangaroos are the clear outlier from that group of five and, according to the club, made a profit of $1.3 million in 2013 as a result of running a very low-cost operation."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/only-5-clubs-profit-without-pokies-20140325-zqmvj.html#ixzz44YKxYMTN 
 

if a small club like the kanga's can eliminate the need for pokies in their business model, what can't the dees? hopefully the increased momentum and potential success that we're heading towards will enable us to do just this.