The new Gillard minority government in Australia has gone the familiar route of latching on to problem gambling as a part of a political move to capture enough votes to form a successful coalition.

Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie has agreed to support Prime Minister Gillard in return for a shopping list which includes a focus on problem gambling. This comes at a time when recent studies in Australia have shown that  problem gambling is now at its lowest level – less than 0.5% of the adult population and it is continuing to decline.

Recent data from Queensland reveals that poker machine numbers have increased by more than 10 per cent but levels of problem gambling have decreased by more than 50 per cent during the same time period of eight years.

Ainsworth Game Technology’s Chairman Len Ainsworth, whose equipment came top of a survey held last week, commented: “This new political initiative will go to the committee stage and hopefully that will be the end of it, but I have been listening to all of these anti-gambling people for the last 57 years and the story is usually the same – no substance and just a bigoted viewpoint.”