1. By Hannah Osborne

2. CLUBS AND SPORT 3. CLUBS AND COMMUNITYFUNDING According to the Get Up Australiacampaign; clubs across Australiareturned 2.7% of gambling profits backto the community. This figure represents the clublandscape across Australia, andincludes clubs that gave nothing back tothe community as well as those thatinvested much more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpF5uqPHrhA 4. CLUBS AND COMMUNITYFUNDING Alternatively, Clubs Australia states,Community clubs are not-for-profit, member-driven and community- orientated associations of people. They support a wide range of causes,including sporting teams and localcharities. No one can personally profitfrom club operation and any net financialsurplus must be returned to members and the local community. 5. CLUBS AND TECNOLOGY The cost of complete installation andupgrading of electronic gamblingmachines is estimated to cost 3 billiondollars. The parliamentary joint select committeeon gambling reform states that thesecosts are less than half of what is madefrom problem gamblers over the periodof a year. 6. CLUBS AND TECHNOLOGY The Returned Services League ofAustralia claims that many of their clubswould not be able to absorb these costsand would be forced to close. However, the committee suggestsallowing eight years for smaller clubs toimplement these changes. 7. CLUBS AND TECHNOLOGY The committee also outlines thatelectronic gaming machines with amaximum bet less than one dollar willnot require the pre commitmenttechnology. However, an open letter to theparliament, by Clubs Australia ExecutiveDirector, Anthony Ball, states that lowintensity machines do not exist inAustralia. 8. POLITICS KEY PLAYERSIndependent MP Senator Nick Prime Minister Opposition LeaderAndrew WilkieXenophon Julia GillardTony Abbott 9. POLITICS - WILKIE A mandatory pre-commitment schemewas part of a signed agreement in returnfor his support of the currentgovernment. Mr Wilkie requires that legislation besubmitted prior to May 2012 or he maywithdraw his support from thegovernment. 10. POLITICS - LABOR Despite increasing pressure, the governmentis sticking firm to the mandatory precommitment technology. Prime Minister, Julia Gillard is backing thereforms because of the suffering caused byproblem gambling. She says; That kind of problem gamblingcauses human misery. I dont think we want tosee anybody profiting on human miseryhttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gillard-promises-to-uphold- commitment-to-independent-mp-on-pokie-reform-defy-clubs/story-fn59niix- 1226037905469 11. POLITICS - LIBERAL The Coalition are opposed to theproposed mandatory pre-commitmentscheme because they believe it willdisadvantage the community and notbenefit problem gamblers. Tony Abbott declared at a recent pokermachine reform rally that if the schemepassed and he became prime ministerhe would revoke the laws. 12. SPORT Sports rely on sponsorship and fundingfrom several groups one of which issocial clubs The introduction of this schemethreatens funding that sporting teamsrely on to field a team, hire grounds, getinsurance and purchase uniforms. 13. SPORT As was previously stated clubs only return2.7% of gambling profits back to thecommunity, despite the majority of socialclubs purpose being to benefit thecommunity. Of the small percentage it is uncertain howmuch goes only to sport; however, it isclear that in spite of the substantial profitscurrently experienced by many social clubstheir subsequent funding of the communityis only a small percentage of that profit. 14. SPORT Contributions towards higher performingteams and professional teams fromsocial clubs are less common. This is primarily due to wider exposureexperienced from the coverage of thesegames and subsequently the fundingopportunities are more forthcoming thanthose for smaller community runsporting teams. 15. CONCLUSION It is clear that social clubs play a vitalrole within our communities forming ameeting place, function centre andproviding funding for multiple communitygroups and sporting teams. However, the percentage of funding isvery small compared to the profits madefrom gaming. 16. CONCLUSION It is unlikely that social clubs that regardsupporting the community as an integralaspect of their businesses are likely tochange these historic foundations. Furthermore, the funding does not haveany clear links to the gaming profits madeby these clubs. Finally, this presentation does not disputethat social clubs will face financial loss butit is not clear that this loss will substantiallyaffect the community. 17. REFERENCES ImagesAndrew Wilkie http://evatt.org.au/news/australian-security-andrew-wilkie-launceston.htmlCapital Football, Gungahlin Eagles, Rams http://www.thetradies.com.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=449&nav_cat_id=173&nav_top_id=59&search=true&dsb=3125Capitals http://www.canberraunited.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=23900Central Hockey http://centralhockey.org/central-hockey-club-officialsJulia Gillard http://www.pm.gov.au/your-pmNick Xenophon - http://www.watoday.com.au/national/stimulus-package-on-life-support-20090212-85f0.htmlNorth Canberra Gungahlin Cricket Club http://www.ncgcc.org.au/Raiders http://www.zerotackle.com.au/rugby-league/nrl/teams/jerseys/Strikers http://www.hockeyact.org.au/news-archive/news/article/2011/march/canberra-strikers-squad-announced/Tony Abbott http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=EZ5Weston Creek Cricket Club http://www.cricketact.com.au/grade-cricket/cricket-act-grade-clubs/weston-creek-cricket-club 18. REFERENCESCommonwealth, The design and implementation of a mandatory pre-commitment system for electronic gaming machines: Parliamentary JointSelect Committee on Gambling Reform, First Report (2011)Anthony Ball, (2011) Clubs NSWhttp://www.clubsnsw.com.au/circulars/ResponseXeno.pdf (1/11/2011)Rob U Blind (2011) GetUp Australia http://www.getup.org.au (1/11/2011)James Massola, Gillard promises to uphold commitment to IndependentMP on pokie reform, defy clubs (2011) The Australianhttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gillard-promises-to-uphold-commitment-to-independent-mp-on-pokie-reform-defy-clubs/story-fn59niix-1226037905469 (1/11/2011)Ben Eltham, Transparency Please! Why the tax breaks for pokies clubs?(2011) Crikey http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/09/27/clubs-australia-campaignand-pokies-revenue/ (1/11/2011) 19. REFERENCESNick Xenophon, Poker Machine Reform: The Headline Facts the Clubs andHotels dont want You to Know (2011)http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/itsabigfatlie/Images/Poker%20Machine%20Reform%20-%20Key%20Points.pdf (1/11/2011)