There are approximately 117,000 problem and moderate-risk gamblers in Victoria.

About 33 percent of them admit to having made plans to commit suicide.

About 18 percent admit that their gambling has led them to break the law.

On a population basis this is the worst for any Australian state or territory.

Gamblers lost over $1.2 billion at Melbourne’s Crown Casino last financial year.

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Victorian Premier, Mr John Brumby, knows all this.

Yet on March 26, he told the media, “There is nothing to stop a second casino opening in Mildura”.

Mr Brumby will license a casino in Mildura, he says, ”if there was clear community support and if there was clear bipartisan support . . . we will see how people think about this issue in Mildura.”

Mr Brumby doesn’t say how he’ll know what Mildura people think.

Despite pleas from the community for a referendum on the issue, there has been no response.

Presumably Mr Brumby thinks he can will get away with declaring, on the basis of no evidence whatever, that Mildura people want a casino — then proceed to establish one and start raking in the extra gambling taxes.

* * *

The would-be developer has released design plans for the proposed casino which he openly admits will include ”a couple of hundred poker machines”.

The increased suicides and increased crime rates will be of no concern to him.

They won’t bother  Mr Brumby much either.

Sources: (1) A Study of Gambling in Victoria Problem Gambling from a Public Health Perspective, Department of Justice, September 2009. (2) The Age, 27 March 2010.

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