Victoria Gaming Commission Approves Play Area in Pokie Venue

Thursday 5 August, 2010 15:27

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The Victoria government has decided to review its decision to allow a Melbourne construction group to build a pub that has a children's play area as part of the floor plan.

The general public sounded it outrage after the plans were publicized, showing approvals for a plan to build a soundproof glass play room overlooking pokie machines at the Pink Hill Hotel in Beaconsfield.

The room would essentially allow parents to keep an eye on their children, all the while gambling at the machines.

Opposition groups said that it was detrimental to expose children to poker machines at such a young age and that a gambling establishment was not an appropriate location to take young children.

The executive director of the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation, Peter Cohen, justified the group's decision by saying that it was more harmful for children to be left unsupervised than it was for for them to see their parents and other adults gamble.

The Gaming Minister, Tony Robinson, however, asked the Commission to reconsider their decision, stating that he felt "uneasy" with the whole situation.

He admitted there was some truth to the fact that parents may use the pub as a free babysitting service while they gambled.

"We do not want to create a circumstance where people might spend longer gaming while their children are supervised," he said.

However, Cohen said that he was a "realist".

"People will gamble," he said. "If they are going to gamble, I would rather they have their children supervised."

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