Casino Information Used By Australia to Punish Elderly
As has happened elsewhere, laws designed to prevent terrorism have been used for quite different purposes than those for which they were created. Anti-money laundering regulations are being used in Australia to bedevil gamblers at local casinos.
Australian pensioners have been accused by the state of hiding gambling income. Many senior citizens, guilty only of seeking entertainment in their twilight years, are facing the loss of the pensions which keep them alive.
Star City Casino in Sydney has turned over information on customers to the government, including details on when they win. The casino insists it is only following the law, passed in 2006, which requires authorities to be informed of suspicious transactions.
Patrons say that, even though they lose as much or more than they win, the government only collects data on payouts. It then considers this money unreported income, and adjusts senior citizen payments accordingly.
Maree O'Halloran of the Welfare Rights Center in New South Wales points out that only players at Star City are suffering this gross violation of privacy. Other forms of gambling do not report winnings, including poker machines and horse tracks.
Sherman Bradley, OCA gambling analyst, says, "It is lunacy for the government to assume that these retirees are only winning, and take no losses. Instead, it seems that the law designed for homeland security is being exploited to punish the elderly for gambling."
Recent Comments
| Posted by: Banpokies1 | When: 11/04/2008 09:00:13 AM EST |
| If a person receives a government support payment that is sourced from tax payers' money...then tax payers have a perfect right to trust that the money will be used responsibly. They also have a right to trust that financial support only goes to those who truly need it. I support the centrelink investigations. They are protecting tax payers' interests. Money spent on poker machines is NOT harmless fun and the amounts checked by Centrelink are not insignificant. There should be a lot more checking going on. Nevertheless, having said that...the Australian citizens have done very little to support the banning of poker machines or the initiatives such as mandatory smart cards that would allow ALL poker machine users to be more responsible consumers. If we refuse to accept OUR wider community responsibility to protect ALL citizens equally, or to provide safety tools to prevent quite a few of them from over-spending on dangerously addictive poker machines...then it is no good complaining if money is then wasted on such addictive, wasteful pursuits. It is OUR problem and WE must be more responsible, as well as those who misuse government support payments. Oh and BTW...I also support compulsory DNA recording at birth for similar reasons! I believe that the right to protection and community safety over-rides individual freedoms and privacy rights...if support of individual rights then brings social and economic harms to communities. That is why I also support banning of poker machines if we refuse to make them safer, by bringing in mandatory smart cards! No good creating a system that is wide open to abuse...then whining because human beings have taken personal advantage. Nor is it enough to always tell 'the other guy' that he must be responsible...if we are not. | |
