Good Afternoon
Thank you for your email to Wesfarmers concerning problem gambling.
Coles owns 94 hotels 79 of which are in Queensland. Eighty-three of our hotels have 2800 poker machines (none in our 6 hotels in Western Australia). According to publicly available records Woolworths owns 323 hotels in all States and has licences for over 13000 poker machines.
Coles fully complies with all State Government regulations on responsible gaming and has already adopted the National Gaming Principles commended by COAG. We have also implemented best practice gaming arrangements proposed by Paul Bendat Tim Costello and Senator Nick Xenophon to limit the exposure of children to gaming at our hotels.
For example we have erected partitions and walls to screen gaming from children at our hotel venues and there are warning signs in our car parks and on our hotels to remind parents that it is an offence to leave children unsupervised in cars.
Since this policy was adopted the Productivity Commission has recommended a number of additional harm minimisation measures including pre-commitment technology. Coles is committed to best practice approaches and we are trialling voluntary pre-commitment in some of our hotels In Queensland until the Federal Government has finalised legislation with new gaming regulations.
In summary:
· Coles complies with all relevant State Government regulations on gaming
· Coles takes pride in its responsible approach to hotels and gaming and endorses the National Principles on Gaming to minimise problem gaming.
· Coles has endorsed the National Gaming Principles and is trialling voluntary pre-commitment technology in Queensland to determine if it is effective in managing problem gaming.
I trust this information is of assistance to you.
Kind Regards
Coles Customer Care
PO Box 480 Glen Iris 3146 Australia
Telephone 1800 061 562 | Email coles.customer.care@coles.com.au