7 minutes ago, A F said:

The way I read Bartlett and PJ in that press conference is that this is directly related to our new facility. 

So if this is right, we free up some capital for a new home (long overdue) and we get a reputational boost along the way by being good corporate citizens....

 

2 minutes ago, ding said:

So we would be selling out to fund our new home?

Awesome, somewhere to call home permanently is long overdue.

How do we replace that income ? ( not just  question for you AF )

The move is certainly multi-pronged, but at the core of the strategy is surely this new training/members facility.

2 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

So if this is right, we free up some capital for a new home (long overdue) and we get a reputational boost along the way by being good corporate citizens....

 

Which may even align itself with State Government co-funding for the new facility, along with our brand receiving an increased positivity in the corporate space.

Edited April 4, 20186 yr by A F

Staggering decision.

We turn ourselves from a profit maker, to a loss maker BY CHOICE?

For nothing other than Social Justice Warriors and their "feelings"?

 

If I see a hat being passed at any time in the future, I will tell them to f*&k right off.

Epically stupid virtue signalling by our leaders. Disgraceful decision.

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, chook fowler said:

Really proud of the Club for this.

I agree chook.

Lets return the club back to the people and footy supporters of RednBlue...  let the people back Inn.

57 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Fair points Bin, not disagreeing, but i just find it all so hypercritical for the AFL to be pumping Sports Betting ads every 3 minutes at our home games...

Maybe the AFL could ditch that Sponsorship and Gill ( who is looking more like a Thunderbird Super Marionette Puppet every time i see him!) can take a pay cut.....

Pigs might fly swyl. I note the AFL has recently stated that the CEOs salary will no longer be made public, if he was going to take a pay cut you can guarantee it would be all over the papers and tabloid footy shows.

Just now, Dr. Gonzo said:

Pigs might fly swyl. I note the AFL has recently stated that the CEOs salary will no longer be made public, if he was going to take a pay cut you can guarantee it would be all over the papers and tabloid footy shows.

Really. The AFL will keep more inhouse info

Typical...

Proud of the club. I'm going to upgrade my membership.

 

And BTW, what's with all these people rabbiting on about "virtue signalling"? I never even heard the phrase until there past couple of years - now Andrew Bolt says it every time he opens his mouth (and his lackeys follow suite).  I don't get it. Are they saying that, from now on, it's impossible to do anything for an honourable motive? That all you're doing is "virtue-signallng" - i.e., I presume,  telling the world how good you are?  Weird.  

10 hours ago, DeeZone said:

I have seen the down side of Pokey addiction up close and personnel and I would love nothing more than to see the "banning" of all Pokies in our fair state.

 

Go Dee's...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dee i fear we will be waiting decades for that to happen, if it ever does.  In the meantime pokie addicts and/or occasional flutterers (like myself) will just go to another venue, including some who will drop their hard earned (or otherwise) at a rival club's venue (potentially).  I would like to know how much we are losing from this decision yearly and projected to lose over the next decade and how we are planning to replace the money foregone as a result of this.

10 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Please, what benefit to society do pokies bring?

The MFC divesting their interest will not stop pokies being played by the masses CB.  Even if all AFL clubs followed suit.  Many humans love to pass the time away on the punt.  Be it horses, poker, the dogs, sportsbet (etc etc etc) two up or an illegal [censored] fight.  Do you think we will ever ban all forms of gambling right across Australia/society?

10 hours ago, Jaded said:

Jackson is a very smart operator as we know. I am 100% sure that he already has some revenue supplements lined up to replace pokies. 

There will be more sponsorship opportunities as a result, from “socially responsible” companies who wouldn’t sponsor clubs at the moment due to their involvement in gambling. 

Good on the club. 

If they make up the loss i would happily applaud the club Jaded.  But i'll believe that when i see the end of year report to members (at least a good 12 months after we have fully divested ourselves of pokies revenue, which might be 2 reports away!)

10 hours ago, Ouch! said:

... and yet I defend people's right to play pokies if they so chose. I don't like that it's in all the pubs and clubs, and would prefer that it was in the Casinos. But I am also sick and tired of the way governments all over Australia are making us a nanny state. People have to be responsible for their own actions. A lot of things offer their users no benefit, but that doesn't mean you should ban it either.

It's a sad fact but I believe a lot of people would find another thing if it wasn't pokies. I'm not saying we shouldn't help people who have addictions as a responsible society, but banning something doesn't automatically solve the problem. These people could turn to internet gambling, and that's even less regulated and grey market without any of the 'levies and taxes' that come back into the Govt.

Pokies are designed through neuroscience to entrap and addict people.  People can't simply "take responsibility" these machines are so advanced they will always catch a certain percent. 

 

The government should represent the peoples interests when they can't represent themselves. That is why government should step in to protect people even if it unfortunately limits the "rights" of others especially when the rights in question are inconsequential (who really cares about being on the pokie??).

10 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

I would love the AFL and all sports to rid themselves of all gambling revenue and I appreciate that there is some hypocrisy here.

However, in my mind there is a slight difference between sports betting and pokies. At least sports betting has some skill involved, whereas pokies are machines that a designed so that over a period of time the user is guaranteed to lose money.

I'm not trying to defend sports betting (the over saturation of it makes my skin crawl) and I totally agree with your point, but pokies as a product offer its users no benefit at all.

In the main this is true CB, however there are some very clever (and/or extremely lucky....or both!) pokie players out there who sometimes win and win quite big at times.  And i am talking winnings in the $10k plus region within a fortnight or so on occasions.

I agree that most normal punters/dabblers would seldom win though (unless they got lucky on the right machine and the right time once in a blue moon) and some addicts would be selling the farm to fund their addiction.  Not good for some that's for sure.

The MFC out of it isn't going to stop ppl using those same machines though.  Leighoak and the Bentleigh Club will just lease it out to another bidder or take the license over themselves (Bentleigh via new owners IF the MFC divests i mean) .

Edited April 4, 20186 yr by Rusty Nails

2 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Fair points Bin, not disagreeing, but i just find it all so hypercritical for the AFL to be pumping Sports Betting ads every 3 minutes at our home games...

Maybe the AFL could ditch that Sponsorship and Gill ( who is looking more like a Thunderbird Super Marionette Puppet every time i see him!) can take a pay cut.....

I'm with you SWY.

Why are some clubs (and in our case one of the poorest) running down the moral (minority) no through road when the AFL is clearly sticking to the main pro gambling Hwy in every sense of the word?  It's embedded in every TV coverage and post-mortem (and pre-mortem) tv / radio broadcast of every match and fully endorsed by Gill & his AFL cohorts.

It's a nice fuzzy outcome but has PJ explained how we are covering the lost revenue in the pressers / media release?

11 hours ago, DemonAndrew said:

pre-emptive move - all clubs are preparing for the afl stopping clubs owning pokies licenses, whilst at the same time taking in excess of $10m from crownbet to be official wagering partner, plus all the residuals from the other gambling companies

the afl hypocritical? well, i never...

Think about it for a second. If there were no clubs or pubs with pokies, where would the gamblers have to go for a fix?

Perhaps the tea leaves have been read and the club is preparing for the AFL being anti-pokies at some stage in the future.  The agreement ends in 2021 so thats still 3 years of revenue we can collect while preparing other streams.

4 hours ago, Nasher said:

You don't think it reasonable that people's view might evolve as life experience grows? 2010 for me was 50% of my adult life ago and I can tell you that my knowledge on the topic at hand and desire to explore it was precisely zero.

Not much has changed !

14 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

My Opa had a ball spending all of my inheritance on the pokies at the Bentleigh Club. He left me his walking stick though which is pretty sweet. 

Those walking sticks come in pretty handy as well when leaning over to repeatedly push a button begins to make the pokies feel like a bit of a chore. Hopefully the club will now invest in some prodies for those of us who prefer our hobbies to be little less action-packed. 

7 hours ago, faultydet said:

Staggering decision.

We turn ourselves from a profit maker, to a loss maker BY CHOICE?

For nothing other than Social Justice Warriors and their "feelings"?

 

If I see a hat being passed at any time in the future, I will tell them to f*&k right off.

Epically stupid virtue signalling by our leaders. Disgraceful decision.

 

 

 

 

While I'm supportive of (and pleased by) the social aspect of this decision, I highly doubt it's any more than a side effect of a decision that was otherwise 100% business. 

The current administration hasn't done anything to suggest it operates in any way other than a shrewd one. I'm surprised you're not prepared to cut them some slack and let this play out before flying off the handle.

5 hours ago, puntkick said:

Not much has changed !

?

What kind of return would you get if you put $11m in the bank? 

7 hours ago, BillyBeane said:

Perhaps the tea leaves have been read and the club is preparing for the AFL being anti-pokies at some stage in the future.  The agreement ends in 2021 so thats still 3 years of revenue we can collect while preparing other streams.

not from leighoak, that ends this july and i suspect most of our gambling revenue comes from leighoak not bentleigh. but that's only my guess 

Selling to another operator isjust transferring the problem washing hands after getting them soiled.

Whilst looks good in press release does nothing to  address the underlying issue

We  will no doubt book a capital profit on the sale

I for one would reallybe impressed if this ill gotten profit was reinvested in programmes assisting the victims

Now that  really something to crow about

10 hours ago, deanox said:

Pokies are designed through neuroscience to entrap and addict people.  People can't simply "take responsibility" these machines are so advanced they will always catch a certain percent. 

 

The government should represent the peoples interests when they can't represent themselves. That is why government should step in to protect people even if it unfortunately limits the "rights" of others especially when the rights in question are inconsequential (who really cares about being on the pokie??).

You are right of course Deanox and it will soon become obvious that sports betting is the same.

No longer is it the days of the walk down to the TAB for a few dollars or the occasional visit to the track for a Saturday afternoon flutter. It is a sophisticated 24 hour a day addiction pumped to vulnerable people by means of their umbilical cord otherwise known as their smartphone.

Ask yourself why have football betting when there is plenty of racing to bet on. The answer is that it is another market ie. young people who think that it is easy money.

I don't object to race betting. It is an industry that has been around for a few hundred years and is here to stay. It is the insidious proliferation of sports betting into all other sports that worries me.

O by the way do you think the Diamonds are a good bet in the Netball this Commonwealth games? My grand daughter wants to puts a few dollars of her pocket money on them.

Edited April 4, 20186 yr by Diamond_Jim

The more I think about this decision, the more I hate it.

My 7 year old son has probably never seen a poker machine in his life, and certainly wouldn't know what to do with one. For most people they are out of sight and out of mind. I certainly can't see anybody forcing people to use them.

On the other hand, sports betting is absolutely everywhere - at the football, on the TV, in the newspapers. My son certainly knows all about the odds, even though nobody in the family gambles. It is a far, far bigger problem, not least of all because it can be done any time, any where without anybody knowing.

For the AFL community to decide that pokies are the work of the devil on one hand, but support the betting agencies on the other, is incredibly hypocritical. However this is fairly typical of an industry that chooses to go all in on certain causes and turn a blind eye to others, depending on the views of its financial backers.