Only 1.5% of the money lost by gamblers in poker machines in Victorian RSLs over several years went towards improving veteran welfare, new research shows.
The study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, analysed records submitted to the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission over a 10-year period.
Between 2009 and 2019, it found, licensed RSL (Returned and Services League of Australia) clubs in the state netted $2.097bn in revenue from gambling.
A detailed analysis within that period showed that for every $100 lost on pokies, only $1.50 was spent on veteran support.
There are nearly 300 RSLs in Victoria, of which more than 50 are licensed for poker machines.
In order to receive tax concessions, the RSLs are required to spend 8.3% of gambling revenue on “community contributions” each year. However, clubs can claim operating expenses – including wages and venue maintenance – as community contributions.
The RSLs spent less than 10% of their reported community contributions directly on veteran support, the study found.
Dr Louise Francis of Curtin University, the study’s lead author, said the contribution scheme amounted to a “legitimation tactic” for the gambling industry, in which acts of philanthropy divert attention from the harm gambling causes.
Francis described the scheme as an “excessively inefficient approach to funding community initiatives” that raised ethical concerns, given that most funds were being spent on venue operational costs rather than veteran services.
“My research shows [the money] is not really going back to the community the way it should be,” she said, adding that in some cases, “we see 100% going to operating expenses and not a single donation”.
The analysis found that on average, Victorian RSLs with poker machines spent 12 times more on business expenses than on contributions to support veterans.
“Ultimately, I don’t think the scheme should exist,” Francis said. In her view, RSLs had become “addicted to having the money come in from the pokies”.
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Francis added the research raised the question: “Why is the RSL so committed to being connected with gambling when there is so, so much harm attributed to the cohort that they’re supposed to be protecting?”
Australian and international research shows that veterans are at higher risk of problem gambling than the general population.
Sue Cattermole, the chief executive of RSL Victoria, said in a statement: “Support for veteran welfare comes from a number of different activities at sub-branches. The operational side of gaming being referred to here is only one of those.
“We assume the study has only focused on that one area of sub-branch operation and is therefore not reflective of the full financial contribution made to veteran welfare.”
Cattermole added that there were “significant funding gaps to meet the growing demands of veteran support”.
“To meet the funding gaps, some sub-branches choose to operate food, beverage, and entertainment options to generate funds. These operations, and costs associated with them, do align with RSL Victoria’s core mission of supporting veterans because without them the gap in funding would be even larger.”
“The result of sub-branches reducing these operations would be fewer veterans receiving the support they need.”
Western Australia is the only state in which pokies are not legal in hotels and clubs such as RSLs. As of 2023 data, it has the lowest rates of gambling expenditure per capita.
