Only two days ago, I wrote about The Pink Hotel’s proposed 60-machine gaming room, and the soundproof glass cage that was intended to overlook the pokies. There’s been a lot of yelling and screaming about this, both in the press and the Beaconsfield community, and rightfully so.

However, on that same day the VCGR quietly issued a press release on the topic of The Pink Hotel’s kids area. I honestly think they intended to clear the air with this press release, but all they’ve done is highlight how poorly they operate, and how badly they need major reforms in their day to day operations.

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Yesterday I wrote about the ALH’s decision to pull gambling-style kids games from all of their venues across the country; that includes almost 100 venues in Victoria alone. It made a nice change to be able to write something good about this lot, especially given the Woolworths connection and the bad publicity they’ve been getting in the press (and deservedly so).

But any lingering happy thoughts I might have had about this were shattered when I learned last night that the Pink Hill Hotel, a proposed development in Beaconsfield, is planning on building a soundproof room, essentially a glass cage, to serve as a kids play area… and that this cage would overlook the 60-machine gaming room.

Are these people insane?

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There was a lot of coverage in the media a week or so back about kids games in gambling venues. The style of the games, and their proximity to gaming rooms and poker machines, gave rise to the very real concern that kids who played these games would be “groomed” for the pokies; desensitised to the concept of risking small prizes to win big ones, and accepting of the pokies as a reasonable way to pass the time. That’s not to mention the parents who would leave their kids to play these machines while they spent hours on the pokies.

Now, we’re not talking Space Invaders, PacMan or Galaga here… these were technically skill games, but the prizes on offer included high-value items such as televisions and iPods. Of course, no one just won the big prizes. You had to win small prizes first, and then risk them to go for the big ones. And these machines could be programmed by the operators to only pay out a small percentage of the time… just like poker machines.

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The good people at pokieact.org are putting together a petition to ensure our children are not exposed to pokies, and I for one think this is a good thing.

To quote from their site:

“…what about the pokie rooms that are wide open to all patrons. Kids having a meal are continually bombarded with the bright lights and obnoxious pokie music. KENO screens are affixed to the walls calling for more gambling. Children can’t go into the gaming area themselves… but they are ever so close they might as well be.”

To sign their petition, simply click on the link on the right of your screen.