Treasurer Peter Gutwein last March announced that the government would change the way gaming operated in the state, making “a clean break with the secretive ways of the past”.

The Federal Group has had a gaming monopoly in the state, including exclusive rights to run poker machines, since 1973.

That deal will expire in 2023.

While the government’s policy position is that the rights to conduct electronic and table gaming, and keno operation, in casinos are to remain with the Federal Group, it has expressed support for approving a license for a  “high roller” gaming casino at MONA.

It also supports a proposal for the rights to operate electronic gaming machines in pubs and clubs post-2023 be allocated and priced by a market-based mechanism, like a tender.

This proposal has received a cool reaction from Federal and vehement opposition from individual, church and social service groups who believe EGMs should be more restricted within the community.

Federal received $111 million in gaming machine revenue in 2015, of which $34 million was paid in taxes to the government.

It has argued in a submission to the inquiry that the single-operator model had reduced regulation costs for the government, and that reform was needed on tax rates and annual fees attracted by the machines – while not decreasing government revenue.

Federal Group chief executive Greg Farrell will argue their case before the Joint Select Committee on Future Gaming Markets, chaired by Mersey independent MLC Mike Gaffney, on Tuesday.

Federal says that gaming in Tasmania has developed responsibly under the exclusive contract and that the state’s minimisation measures were the most stringent in the country. 

It points out that Tasmania has less gaming machines per 1000 people than all the other states, and that from 2008-9 to 2012-3, real gambling expenditure in Tasmania fell by 27 per cent from $427 million to $310 million.

Church and community groups believe more needs to be done to reduce the negative impacts poker machines have on communities, however.

There were consistent themes in their arguments to the parliamentary committee ahead of this week’s hearings, notably having the machines removed from pubs and hotels and contained to casinos where there is a $1 maximum bet.

Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania said there should be a system which required people to set an enforceable limit on their losses.

More than that, they believed there should be mandatory staff intervention at gaming venues for problem gamblers.

The organisation conducted a survey which revealed that 66 per cent of respondents thought that poker machine gambling was a problem in their community while 95 per cent believed that poker machines were harmful and addictive.

Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group said they would be willing to install technology on each of their 150 gaming machines they operated in Tasmania to restrict users to a nominated time or spending limit.

It has argued that the gambling market share of gaming machines in the state had decreased in relation to other forms of gambling, indicating that there had been an increase in threefold increase in sports betting, in particular, from 2009 and 2014.

Non-profit organisation Holyoake, which offers counselling services for a range of addictions, says that for every problem gambler, five to ten people were affected – family, friends or work colleagues.

It said between 40 to 60 per cent of problem gamblers experienced clinical depression, displayed suicidal ideation or had high levels of anxiety.

Additionally, 30 to 40 per cent have a concurrent substance dependence or abuse, and the same ratio of gamblers have poorer physical health than the general population.

Holyoake said the lure of poker machines on the vulnerable is in their speed and intensity which was designed to induce a dissociative state, offering temporary relief from stress or emotional problems.

General practitioner Nick Cooling said the hearings were an opportune time for parliamentarians to reduce access to problem gambling.

He said in his profession, he saw the direct and indirect impact of gambling on patients and their families, particularly from lower socioeconomic regions.

He said it was time that the government banned poker machine licences from the state's poorer areas.

Clubs Australia, however, is of the firm view that it is in the public interest to have gaming machines in not-for-profit clubs as it enabled proceeds to be reinvested into community facilities and services.

"In our view, reform to the gaming machine arrangements in Tasmania should seek to secure and enhance the important social-economic contribution made by not-for-profit community clubs," it wrote in its submission to the inquiry.

Clubs Australia believes that gaming machine entitlements should be granted to clubs in perpetuity which will provide them with financial stability to continue with its community investment goals.

The Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission estimates that there are up to 3200 problem gamblers in Tasmania, and up to 7000 moderate gamblers.

As part of the government’s reform in the area, a new public interest test will now be applied when the commission considers gaming machine licence applications in venues.

The government will also cap the number of poker machines in the state to 3530 in six years’ time – a reduction of 150 from the current figure.

It has committed to a review of tax rates and licence fees for poker machines.