Liberal backbencher and Richmond supporter Bernie Finn told The Age: ''I think it's grossly unfair that one individual has the power to remove a major source of revenue from three AFL clubs and unilaterally direct it to just one.''

I hate pokies.

I think they're one of many major scourges on society.

And I DO have a problem with the club IF it's being largely funded by pokies revenue.

Unfortunately, our kids schools, our hospitals, our public transportation system, roads, water and other major infrastructure are currently being heavily funded by pokies.

It's a very broad societal issue, and would be unfair to single out a football club for relying on income from them, when the State Government is the biggest beneficiary of them all.

John, this is a thread related to Carlton and it's broadening reliance on pokies, so I don't consider it unfair to single out the club for relying on income from pokies.

Let's not deflect away from the thread topic.

Governments and others' reliance on pokies should really be debated in 'stuff', should it not?

We have 12 (or is it 13?) very well connected board members on the board and this is all they can come up with?

It's not just about our club.

Collingwood, Essendon*, the Bulldogs, Melbourne, Hawthorn, St Kilda, Geelong, every Victorian club bar the Kangaroos has pokies.

Fair enough to get stuck into Carlton's board if we were an aberration here. But we're not: every club in Victoria, bar the sadly-broke Roos, are into these things. You can't sound-off against our directors without also doing so against the directors of all other Victorian AFL clubs.

The fact is, it's broader than our club. It's the entire AFL community... and Victorian society as a whole. I really don't see how you could single out Carlton for criticism when everyone's doing it.

I hate pokies.

I think they're one of many major scourges on society.

And I DO have a problem with the club IF it's being largely funded by pokies revenue.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/pokies-deal-sparks-afl-clubs-feud-20100512-uy3z.html


The upshot of the story is that many Victorian-based AFL clubs just had a big windfall from the State Govt's pokies auction.

Bulldogs took the low-risk option and bid high for their 50+ machines, paying an average of $60,000 per machine.

Collingwood did a little of both, and bought some of their pokies at the high-end of the spectrum, and the rest for only $5,500 each.

Hawthorn scored a hundred pokie machines for the base price of $5,500.

Carlton purchased more than 260 pokie machines all at $5,500, spread across 4 venues (courtesy of Bruce Matheison). Based on estimated average returns per machine, these machines will eradicate our entire debt inside of a decade.

I hate the things myself. But you can't argue that they're an exceptionally good investment.

Unfortunately, our kids schools, our hospitals, our public transportation system, roads, water and other major infrastructure are currently being heavily funded by pokies.

It's a very broad societal issue, and would be unfair to single out a football club for relying on income from them, when the State Government is the biggest beneficiary of them all.