According to a statement made by New South Wales Gaming Minister Grant McBride to the Australian parliament, a hotel in Sydney has allegedly lent a considerable sum of cash to a patron for use at the poker machines. According to allegations, the Markets Hotel lent a customer a total of AUD$30,000 (USD$23,000) since April 2004 for playing pokies on the hotel's gaming floor. The hotel is also suspected of illegally housing a EFTPOS payment processing station, which allowed the said patron to place an additional AUD$23,000 (USD$17,000) on his credit card

McBride was quoted as saying the Gaming and Racing director-general was mulling over the possibility of launching court proceedings against the Markets Hotel.

Aside from the cut and dry legal issues implicated in these allegations, there are also matters of social responsibility to take into account, considering Australia's burgeoning poker machine addiction phenomenon. While it may be in the immediate interest of hotels and casinos to make it as easy as possible for players to access cash for gaming, with the recent reports of gambling-related suicides, these venues have a responsibility to take control of their gaming halls. Besides this moral standpoint, which in it's purest form, may not really interest many businesses, it isn't exactly good press for casinos to have hordes of addicted players on their hands.

Source:  Poker777 Staff

Thursday, 22 September 2005