Tuesday, 19 August, 2025
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Council peace motion
Tax fight rises
Law-health milestone
Dual Dandy demolitions
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SPORT
Soar to new heights Kuirowl Chol, from Dandenong, is leaping into a US college basketball scholarship from this week. The 19-year-old, along with Red Roo Sports teammate Mangok Gach, are also products of a Brothers for Brothers program that creates positive social connection for young people in the South East. More on the story, turn to page 13
Kuirowl Chol. (Gary Sissons: 496031)
Pokies trial ‘sham’ The State Government’s pokies-card trial in Greater Dandenong has been labelled a “sham” due to not including mandatory pre-commitment, say advocates. The trial rolling out in September will introduce mandatory account-based card play on pokie machines, but gamblers are given the option of whether or not to pre-set loss limits. The ‘watering-down’ move was signalled by the Government altering its original media release on 21 July by adding that gamblers “can” set loss limits on the YourPlay card. The Minister’s office for Gaming, Casino and
Liquor Regulation stated the change was made because its first release was not clear enough. A disappointed Greater Dandenong Council is raising its concerns in a letter to Gambling Minister Enver Erdogan. “Gambling has a significant impact on our community, with $138 million lost to electronic gaming machines in the City of Greater Dandenong in 2024/24,” Greater Dandenong deputy mayor Sophie Tan said. “We continue to advocate for stronger gambling reform, including the implementation of mandatory pre-set loss limits on the YourPlay card.”
Chief advocate at the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tim Costello says he is 100 per cent confident this is the result of the gambling industry’s influence. “They’ve always opposed a mandatory trial. “We always understood it was mandatory (pre-commitment) - it’s a waste of trial, it’s not even a trial, it’s a cosmetic sham to fool the public they are doing something but all they’re doing is deceiving the public.” The purpose of the trial was now limited to merely testing the software changes for mandatory account based carded play on EGMs.
“Truth is, they don’t need to do a trial of YourPlay, we know the technology can work…” A consultation was undertaken with industry and stakeholders for the gambling trial, including Alliance for Gambling Reform’s Rebecca Paterson. According to her, there were no red flags during the consultation phase that it’d be an optional pre-commitment for players. “There was no indication that we were talking about anything other than it being precisely binding limits, they didn’t say anything about it being different.” More on the story, turn to page 5
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