THE ACT is the undisputed gaming machine capital of Australia, pulling clear of NSW for the number of machines per capita.
The ACT has 5155 gaming machines operating across the territory, meaning there is one pokie for every 68 people putting the territory well ahead of the Australian average of one machine for every 110 people.
While NSW has more machines more than 92,000 its ratio is only one machine per 73.9 people. Western Australia has the lowest density, with one machine for every 1278 people.
The figures place the ACT top of the list in a country that features in the top 10 of the world's gambling nations, alongside Monaco (one machine per 16 people) and Macau (1:31).
Australia holds eighth position in world rankings for both the number of people per machine and number of machines.
The nation has more than 186,000 pokies, representing about 2.4 per cent of world's gaming machines.
While Canberra's cap of 5200 machines represents less than 3 per cent of the national figure, the density has been labelled a problem by the ACT Opposition.
Opposition Leader Zed Seselja accused the Labor Government of having a soft stance on pokies because of it's relationship with the Canberra Labor Club.
Figures from the ACT Gambling Commission show the Canberra Labor Club reported making $553,926 in political donations in the 2008-09 financial year.
The territory's 75 clubs and pubs licensed to carry machines made more than $175million from gaming in the same period.
''Being the gaming capital of Australia is not a mantle the ACT should be particularly proud of,'' Mr Seselja said.
''One of the issues in the ACT is the fact the Governing party for the last eight years has been hopelessly conflicted on the issue of poker machines.
Issued by Canberra Times 24th January 2010
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/act-now-national-pokie-capital/1732530.aspx
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