Pokies axed at live venue

Mon 30th Aug, 2010 in Local News

The pokies have been banished from World Bar in Kings Cross, with the removal of 15 machines last week. The venue hosts eight bands every Friday night for indie club night MUM, and also offers regular music and arts-based events and DJs throughout the week.

Mess+Noise reports that the machines had been in the venue since early 1990s (when the venue was still called the Rhino Bar), but have made way for a new space for “album launches and listening parties, spoken-word and book readings, possibly private functions and events”.

World Bar’s head of marketing and promotions Grant Barnes told Mess+Noise that “Ditching the pokies is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, but their removal really just reflects what the people of Sydney want from their entertainment venues – it’s this shift in the market that should be applauded and encouraged.”

“The pokies backlash isn’t new,” says Barnes, “but venues reacting to the backlash perhaps is. Hopefully, it happens more and more in the near future. It really comes down to people not playing them, which is a trend that I think will continue – I mean, they’re not very exciting are they? I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t rather be watching a band.”

Meanwhile, NSW Minister for Gaming and Racing, Kevin Greene, has rejected a proposal by the Productivity Commission to restrict pokies to a $1 bet limit a move which would significantly impact on the viability of pokies in live venues.

following the federal election newly elected independent Andrew Wilkie and South Australian federal member Nick Champion have both launched renewed attacks on the pokies. Wilke has raised the issue as a concern in negotiations with the Liberals and Labor to form government, and Champion has declared that “We’ve got rivers of gold at the moment flowing to pubs and clubs and rivers of tears in the community and that’s not an appropriate situation, its not an ethical situation, and it is about time we had robust debate in the parliament on legislation that implements the Productivity Commission’s recommendations.”