No pokies - and they're happy

CLUBS Australia might think restrictions on pokies are “un-Australian” but the little town of Biggenden has been pokie-free for years and the locals have never been happier.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is presently trying to push through national gambling reforms which would see limits on the amount people could lose at a poker machine.

This has angered Clubs Australia, which announced a $20 million advertising campaign against the reforms earlier this week.

Clubs Australia labelled the reforms “un-Australian” and said that pubs and clubs would go broke because of them.

In Biggenden, however, the Grand Hotel has been without any pokies at all for nearly 10 years, and the publican does not believe it has hurt the hotel at all.

Publican Ivan Groves said locals went to the Grand to have a drink and catch up with their mates, not to sit in front of a glowing screen and waste their money.

It’s not just the Grand which refuse to have the machines in Biggenden, either.

The Commercial Hotel and bowls and golf clubs are also pokie-free.

“I think it has been great for the town,” North Burnett regional councillor Kevin “Lofty” Wendt said.