Classy North banner endorsing our stand on Pokies - we’ll done to them

3 hours ago, Demonland said:

 

PJ is forever an optimist as am I. Good to see it’s part of our “business” analysis and I hope we don’t just replace the pokies profit but we exceed it. 

On 4/7/2018 at 6:31 PM, Demonland said:

 

That's the irony of being a club that has a relatively low income level from the pokies. The less you receive the easier it is to replace. Hawthorn, Carton and Collingwood get greater revenues and therefore will find it much harder to wean themselves off the pokies, should they choose to do so.

Edited April 9, 20187 yr by La Dee-vina Comedia
typo fix

The big clubs reaping the $$ from pokies... glad we are getting out. 

 

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/afl-clubs-reaped-100-million-pokies-windfall-last-year-20180727-p4zu08.html 

Family Club yeah?

3 hours ago, Clintosaurus said:

Family Club yeah?

I believe the HFC annual profit matched their gambling profit last year

I've had lots of twists and turns over this and similar issues over the years and I've battled my own "demons" often enough.

Now I reckon [censored] it - no one holds a gun to your head and makes you play a pokie. No one shoves a ciggy in your mouth and makes you inhale. No one tips booze down your gob and makes you drink it.

Surely at some point we must take responsibility for our own actions.

How [censored] weak has society become?

7 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

I've had lots of twists and turns over this and similar issues over the years and I've battled my own "demons" often enough.

Now I reckon [censored] it - no one holds a gun to your head and makes you play a pokie. No one shoves a ciggy in your mouth and makes you inhale. No one tips booze down your gob and makes you drink it.

Surely at some point we must take responsibility for our own actions.

How [censored] weak has society become?

In answer to your last line...

Very.

4 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

I've had lots of twists and turns over this and similar issues over the years and I've battled my own "demons" often enough.

Now I reckon [censored] it - no one holds a gun to your head and makes you play a pokie. No one shoves a ciggy in your mouth and makes you inhale. No one tips booze down your gob and makes you drink it.

Surely at some point we must take responsibility for our own actions.

How [censored] weak has society become?

It’s  much more complicated than that. All those things are highly addictive. It’s not weak to be addicted. It’s  an illness like any other. Labelling those suffering as weak just increases there unhappiness and drives them further down the hole. The country should just charge $1350 for a pack of ciggies as that’s roughly the true cost when you look at the health implications. Alcohol needs to be 7 -9 times more expensive if you factor in health costs. Gambling just needs to have its advertising banned and poker machines banned. The vast majority of users are the very people who can least afford it

if only our governments had the balls to do that

I'm told the standard of the food and amenities under the new management at the Bentleigh Club is much better these days.

LeighOak also advertising new management but I haven't stepped in there yet either.

Sounds like Essendon are continuing their highly ethical approach to sport:

"Melton City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to approve a 29-year lease extension allowing the Essendon Football Club to continue operating Melton Country Club and its 89 poker machines until the end of 2047.

The lease for the venue, at which gamblers lost $5.69 million in 2017-18, was due to expire in 2022."

"Essendon, who also own 101 poker machines at Windy Hill, refused to comment when contacted by The Age. "

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-lock-in-three-decade-pokies-lease-20181211-p50lkd.html

5 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Sounds like Essendon are continuing their highly ethical approach to sport:

"Melton City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to approve a 29-year lease extension allowing the Essendon Football Club to continue operating Melton Country Club and its 89 poker machines until the end of 2047.

The lease for the venue, at which gamblers lost $5.69 million in 2017-18, was due to expire in 2022."

"Essendon, who also own 101 poker machines at Windy Hill, refused to comment when contacted by The Age. "

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-lock-in-three-decade-pokies-lease-20181211-p50lkd.html

Nothing has changed. I suspect that “values” are not part of their mission statement. 

IMO clubs who have adopted family values over pokies should be rewarded by the AFL,  as otherwise the clubs like Hawks, Blues and Bombers have an advantage in income, derived from gambling, which is so harmful to so many.

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

IMO clubs who have adopted family values over pokies should be rewarded by the AFL,  as otherwise the clubs like Hawks, Blues and Bombers have an advantage in income, derived from gambling, which is so harmful to so many.

Agree but sport and gambling is so entwined in Australian culture that it could take a while.

Ironic that the biggest operators of pokies if one includes NSW are sports clubs and the RSL.

2 hours ago, Redleg said:

IMO clubs who have adopted family values over pokies should be rewarded by the AFL,  as otherwise the clubs like Hawks, Blues and Bombers have an advantage in income, derived from gambling, which is so harmful to so many.

The MFC didn't have to make the decision they did and people don't have to throw their money down the drain.

There should be no "reward" for clubs who make a business decision whether it's inspired by community spirit, or not..

30 minutes ago, ProDee said:

The MFC didn't have to make the decision they did and people don't have to throw their money down the drain.

There should be no "reward" for clubs who make a business decision whether it's inspired by community spirit, or not..

would seem more a political than business decision to me, which usually involves a stick or carrot situation, so a "reward" could be seen either as a carrot or a non-stick.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/pull-plug-on-pokies-afl-commission-chairman-richard-goyder-20170821-gy12n7.html

Quote

AFL commission chairman Richard Goyder says he "hates" pokies, and will seek to use his personal authority to wean clubs off them.

"We're going to have a good look and see whether there's the opportunity to at least lessen the reliance," Goyder told journalist Alan Kohler in an interview for his website The Constant Investor. "Some clubs have got a high dependency on them at the moment, and it's not a matter saying, 'Well let's just stop it'. You've actually got to work through a way of doing it. It's something we and the clubs are looking at, at the moment."

 

3 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Sounds like Essendon are continuing their highly ethical approach to sport:

"Melton City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to approve a 29-year lease extension allowing the Essendon Football Club to continue operating Melton Country Club and its 89 poker machines until the end of 2047.

The lease for the venue, at which gamblers lost $5.69 million in 2017-18, was due to expire in 2022."

"Essendon, who also own 101 poker machines at Windy Hill, refused to comment when contacted by The Age. "

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-lock-in-three-decade-pokies-lease-20181211-p50lkd.html

That is just so Essendrug. Whilst most are trying to remove Pokie reliance, the druggers sign a 30 year extension. They still run their own law book out there. 

Those Masonic roots from the past are still ingrained strongly

Edited December 11, 20186 yr by Sir Why You Little

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Those Masonic roots from the past are still ingrained strongly

@Mods please delete or whatever, masons have nothing to do with pokies in this context.

3 hours ago, ProDee said:

The MFC didn't have to make the decision they did and people don't have to throw their money down the drain.

There should be no "reward" for clubs who make a business decision whether it's inspired by community spirit, or not..

Agree we didn't have to make the decision and also that people don't need to gamble.

However, the AFL rewards clubs that make business decisions and lose money.

I would have thought this has more merit than simply being incompetent in running a club.

1 hour ago, DaisyDeeciple said:

@Mods please delete or whatever, masons have nothing to do with pokies in this context.

Yes I am blaming the Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffoles (RAOB) myself! 

8 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

Yes I am blaming the Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffoles (RAOB) myself! 

well i can assure you the uniting church ladies tennis club of burwood had nothing to do with it, earl. i would have heard if they did.

9 hours ago, DaisyDeeciple said:

@Mods please delete or whatever, masons have nothing to do with pokies in this context.

Are you actually offended by this? Wow this is a new one ... 

10 hours ago, Redleg said:

Agree we didn't have to make the decision and also that people don't need to gamble.

However, the AFL rewards clubs that make business decisions and lose money.

I would have thought this has more merit than simply being incompetent in running a club.

I agree that with all things being equal and if people were to enter these venues with a clear mind, then they don't have to gamble.

However, the real world often isn't like that. People aren't a collect, rational intelligence like the Borg in Star Trek. They bring their own foibles and baggage with them.

The thing that seems to be most disturbing about the gambling scene in Australia right now is the predatory nature of it.

Machines tend to be distributed in low socioeconomic areas and in suburbs with higher incidences of family and domestic violence. I wonder why the powers behind these things aren't dumping them in say Canterbury or Brighton? 

And then there is this story which just made me sick to my stomach.

The question isn't an whether we should ban gambling. Doing this has led to it going underground and creating at best, SP bookmakers at your local pub or at worst, characters like Abe Saffron and George Freeman. The issue is whether licensed clubs should be forced to take into consideration the needs of those struggling as they haven't self regulated under the existing framework. If anything their behavior has been almost vulturistic.

And we as a football club have done the right thing in walking away from this industry as it currently exists.

11 hours ago, Redleg said:

Agree we didn't have to make the decision and also that people don't need to gamble.

However, the AFL rewards clubs that make business decisions and lose money.

I would have thought this has more merit than simply being incompetent in running a club.

Poker machines are a curse to society and the sooner they get rid of them the better off society will be.

14 hours ago, drysdale demon said:

Poker machines are a curse to society and the sooner they get rid of them the better off society will be.

Who is " they " Mr Super Critic ( critique ) ?