1. Woolworths Pokies On Tv
2. Woolworths Owns Pokies
3. Woolworths Pokies Pics

The video poker (pokies) operations of Australian retail giant Woolworths have been penalized by New South Wales regulators for plying customers with free booze in a bid to keep them gambling. Costello noted that Woolworth’s announcement will see the Mathieson family’s influence significantly reduced, saying: “It is good to see Woolworths regularise the corporate structure of its pokies empire, diluting the power currently held by billionaire joint venture partner Bruce Mathieson, who owns 25 per cent of the current ALH joint. Absolutely disgraceful Woolworths! To kick off 2021, a shout out to Eddie McGuire who resigned as Coll. Ingwood Football Club President late last year. He got Collingwood out of the pokies, good for the club, fans and community. Thunderstruck 2 is one of the best slot games by microgaming and you can play it with Bitcoins in the bitcasino. Although online gambling has had its ups and downs in the United States, the industry has finally reached a good point where players can just sit back and enjoy different types of casino games.

In the great tradition of taking a dump when no-one is looking, the NSW government released this scathing 113-page report about Woolworths and its pokies division late on Friday afternoon.

News Corp, as you would expect given its big interest in the gambling industry and history of kowtowing to major advertisers, didn’t report a word of it, but The Age and SMH managed to produce this story on Friday night, which ran as the page two lead in Saturday’s SMH. Nothing appeared in print in The Age.

The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) report is the most tangible regulatory attack on Woolworths that we’ve seen since 2004, when it decided to become the biggest Australian pokies operator through a $1.4 billion joint venture takeover bid with billionaire Bruce Mathieson for the former Foster’s pub division ALH.

Ever since then Bruce Mathieson and his son Bruce Jr have been left to run the ALH division out of their South Yarra office in Melbourne, despite only owning a minority 25% stake in the joint venture.

As for the Woolworths board and management team, they’ve all been sitting in Sydney largely oblivious to what has been going on inside the pubs they supposedly control.

Yet when asked at various AGMs over the years, the seven Woolworths chairs and CEOs since 2004 (Roger Corbett, Gordon Cairns, Brad Banducci, the late Michael Luscombe, the late James Strong, Ralph Waters and Grant O’Brien) have all sworn black and blue that Woolworths is a responsible company and there is no better operator of poker machines than Australia’s biggest food and liquor retailer.

Woolworths Pokies On Tv

Here is a sample, drawn from this 89-page transcript, of what the current Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns said at the 2019 AGM in Sydney just eight months ago:

We are not the most irresponsible [operator]. In fact, the opposite is the case … irrespective of whether Woolworths owned 100% of ALH or whether Woolworths ultimately divests its drinks and hotel business, we are committed to the highest standards of responsible gaming in Australia.

Contrast that with what is in the ILGA’s report, showing how Woolworths wantonly broke NSW law by demanding their staff deliver free alcohol to big gamblers in their pokies rooms.

As the Nine papers explained, ILGA chairman Phillip Crawford attacked the company for displaying “absolutely no contrition” about its behaviour, which has led to fines, costs and suspensions of poker machine trading in two pubs which in total will cost shareholders close to $400,000.

ILGA has also banned ALH’s Queensland operations manager Morgan Bensley from the NSW hotel industry for the next five years, but based on his LinkedIn profile he still appears to be on the ALH books across the Tweed in Queensland. Where is the accountability?

Woolworths Owns Pokies

Bruce Mathieson became a billionaire by being Australia’s most aggressive operator of poker machines, whether it be maximising trading hours, donating heavily to pro-pokies politicians and parties, pushing hard on loyalty schemes, marketing to children with free birthday parties, poorly designed venues, publicly attacking critics, litigating councils, buying venues in the poorest areas or plying gamblers with free drinks.

However, after 15 years of this, Woolworths got sick of all the bad publicity and proposed a two-stage demerger that first saw Mathieson parlay his 25% stake in ALH into a smaller 14.6% stake in the bigger Endeavour Group, which included the entire Woolworths retail liquor business.

Mathieson was only promised one seat on the Endeavour Group board after the demerger, but once COVID-19 hit it was postponed until 2021 at the earliest. As of today, Mathieson has three of the seven seats on the Endeavour board and his son retains operational control of the pubs as ALH CEO.

In light of the comments by ILGA chairman that Woolworths showed no contrition for its blatant breaches, it really is time the Mathiesons were relieved of their operational influence so that less combative and more responsible Woolworths people can take charge of Australia’s biggest pokies empire.

WOOLWORTHS has emerged as a potential big winner after the Victorian Government smashed the pokie machine duopoly between Tabcorp and Tatts.

Woolworths Pokies Pics

Shares in Tabcorp and Tattersalls were placed in a trading halt yesterday after the announcement that they will lose their control over the state's 27,500 poker machines in 2012.
Experts say that since Woolworths owns so many pubs and bars in Victoria, it is perfectly placed to benefit and bid for its own licences.
Angus Geddes, of stock market newsletter Fat Profits, said: 'There will be blood on the market tomorrow. This is bad news for the two companies and Woolworths will probably be rubbing its hands together and opening the champagne.'
From 2012, owners of venues will own and run their own poker machines - and keep the revenue.
Craig Shepherd, an analyst at Commsec, said the announcement was a blow for both gaming companies.
'It was a shock decision and the value that the market thought was in the stocks from 2012 onwards has been wiped out. People thought they would retain the licences for poker machines but they haven't. Even though a change was always on the cards, nobody expected it to be this dramatic,' he said.
Tabcorp and Tattersalls had enjoyed a duopoly where the two companies were in charge of sourcing, buying and collecting the revenue from poker machines in Victoria.
From 2012, however, venues of any size will be able to bid for pokie machine licences for up to 10 years.
'Currently in Victoria, revenue from pokie machines is shared between Tattersalls or Tabcorp, the venue, and the government. But the changes move to a more NSW-style system where the venue owns and runs everything,' Mr Shepherd said.
He said Tatts and Tabcorp derived about 30 per cent of their earnings from the gaming machines, but still own significant assets such as their wagering licences.
Tabcorp chairman John Story said the company was disappointed by the decision and would review all available options to gain a refund on its $597 million licence fee.
The Victorian Government said yesterday neither Tatts nor Tabcorp were entitled to compensation as a result of the restructure.
'We are both surprised and deeply disappointed by the Government's statement that it disputes its obligation to refund the licence fee,' Mr Story said.
'Tabcorp's 216,000 shareholders, including 60,000 in Victoria, are relying on the Government to honour its commitment.'
Tabcorp said the gaming business was an important contributor to earnings, adding $118.7 million before interest and tax in the first half of 2008.
The Government said it would maintain total poker machine numbers at 27,500 and enforce a cap on ownership so that no one venue operator could own more than 35 per cent of machines available to hotels.
- news.com.au

Originally published asWoolies to win on pokies