By ERWIN CHLANDA
Mayor Matt Paterson, without the consent of the council, emailed the Commonwealth Bank in support of the town’s biggest owner of poker machines, Iris Capital.
The email is on Office of the Mayor letterhead and addressed to the bank’s Relationship Executive, Major Client Group.
Iris owns the Todd Tavern and Gapview hotels and the Casino.
Mayor Paterson reacted angrily when the Alice Springs News interviewed him, demanded to be told how we obtained the letter, which we declined, and said he would “refer it to ICAC”.
The Mayor said: “I don’t need approval for every letter I send.
“I’m allowed to send a letter from my office without the approval of the council. I can’t say council endorsed something, but I can have an opinion as any elected member can.
“They are allowed to make submissions, as does the Deputy Mayor or all councillors.”
Mayor Paterson says in the email: “The proposed development and expansion of the Lasseter’s complex represents a major investment … and helps satisfy some of the accommodation capacity challenges we experience during major events and the peak tourist season.
“The proposed new day care centre and creche … will be a much needed addition for working families.”
Mayor Paterson does not mention pokies in his email.
As casino manager Craig Jervis declined to comment it was not possible to find out how much the projects have progressed since the email was sent on January 22, 2024.
Speaking with the News Mayor Paterson said pokies are “a legal product. I don’t play pokies but I played them before”.
NEWS: Are there sections of the community that are adversely affected by pokies in Alice Springs?
MAYOR: I think there are people in every community who are adversely affected by poker machines.
NEWS: How many poker machines does Iris Capital own in Alice Springs?
MAYOR: Ah. So here you go. If you call out that one business I will not do a story with you. I’m happy to talk about pokies in Alice Springs.
NEWS: To my knowledge Iris are the biggest owners of pokies in Alice Springs.
Mayor Paterson terminated the interview.
The NT has 2,195 poker machines, 1190 in clubs and hotels and 1005 in casinos.
The minimum return to players (RTP) is 85% in clubs and 88% in casinos. Pokies in the NT casinos are governed by legislation separate to those in clubs and pubs.
UPDATE November 9, 2024, 7.30am
The Alice Springs News was not able to obtain statistics reported last year: “Since purchasing Lasseters Casino in Alice Springs in 2021, Iris Capital has added almost 150 pokies to the venue, bringing the total number of machines there to 400.”
There is no limit on the number of pokies the casino can instal. The losses by patrons are secret.
A government media release on June 6, 2023, announces lowering the gaming machine cap to 1659 in venues other than the casinos.
Great piece of journalism! Pokies are a worse blight on the community than glue sniffing.
Can’t we just get rid of the nasties. They are definitely a contributor to crime, and the vulnerable and poor are most at risk. We aren’t serious about the wellbeing of our community are we.
On a good note however I was at Juicy Rump last night and the menu is being changed. Great spring rolls. I think it is the first time in at least 15 years or so that the menu has changed somewhat. Now that’s got to be good.
Maybe the Mayor likes a flutter!
A hard working bloke like him deserves to be able to do what he wants. I think that’s the gist of what he is saying! He has a good future in Territory politics.
I sincerely hope that the new NT Government listens to the Mparntwe / Alice Springs community who said a resounding no to any new pokies in 2022 and since.
The lowering of the cap on pokies in pubs and clubs from 1699 to 1659 in June last year was a step in the right direction – but in my opinion this did not go nearly far enough.
We have far too many machines in the NT for our small population – and poker machine harms disproportionately impact people who can least afford it. The best way to reduce harm from poker machines is to reduce the number of machines in the community.
The support of the Council is strongly implied in the Mayor’s correspondence.
Who would think that a mayor would support such a socially destructive company without first getting the endorsement of the council?
Paterson has a history of going it alone on issues he should have consulted the elected members on.
He appears to think he is a CEO rather than a mayor.
Timely for elected members to assert themselves and rein him in.
All “poker machines” today are not poker machines. They all deceive with a false impression of gambling on chance. The spinning reels are just computer graphics of spinning reels. They do not represent chance, which means the impression of gambling on chance they play a central role in is actually deceptive and misleading.
To cover this up disinformation and misinformation has been spread right throughout society claiming that when we press the button and make functional contact with the programmed chance located inside the outer casing of the machine, that that is gambling. Thats it! Game over!
Ahhh bullshit. That is not gambling, the product is a scam. Chance, as an object of gambling must be represented as an object of gambling and the only thing that represents it are the spinning reels except they not only fail to represent it but also play an active role in deceiving people.
Chance as an object of gambling is something we always hit, at least with the original pokies. Always hitting the object of gambling with our bet has us take it for granted.
This opened the door for the biggest scam in Australian and even world history. Today we consistently miss the object of gambling – chance – since it never is and never was represented by the spinning reels.
There is nothing on the video to gamble the video credits on. The gamble feature has objects of gambling on the video which is very interesting given its close position to the scam.
It appears that we do not have a mayor with a social conscience.
Mr Paterson should know every publicly available detail of the gambling industry that helps to drive crime in our town, and he should not support any company that profits from it.
First, the unnecessary closure of the Animal Shelter that now runs at the ratepayer’s expense and now this.
Sorry Kevern, I can’t quite get the gist of your post,
If you mean by “chance” an equal chance, then virtually all gambling fails the test.
All poker machines, lotteries, the TAB, and the myriad of crapsies the newsagents sell these days are set up to provide a guaranteed percentage to the owner.
The old “spinning wheel” machines were no different.
None give the punter an even chance.
If you play any of them long enough, you are guaranteed to lose.
As regards to the Mayor’s letter, it is unethical. The Council, and the community should ask for his resignation.
Young Matt writes, directly over the Alice Springs Town Council logo and letterhead, “We … are pleased to support …”
So who is “We?” Matt does not indicate it is anyone other than the Town Council.
Matt says to Alice News, “I can’t say council endorsed something, but I can have an opinion as any elected member can.”
However, “We are pleased to support” is not the opinion of an “I”, but the endorsement of a “We.”
Young Matt seems less than forthright.
Matt decided to go it alone when he endorsed national publicity about our youth crime, which hurt tourism.
Matt decided to go it alone when he endorsed buffel grass, which hurts the environment.
Matt decided to go it alone with his opinion on pokies at the Casino, where most punters are Aboriginal.
When Alice News asks Matt about this, he threatens to “refer it to ICAC” and ends the interview.
Young Matt seems thoroughly unwilling to inform Alice citizens and democratically represent our interests.
No surprise Matt wants less time in his Mayor job, and more time in his Second job.
@ Don Fuller. I agree that, with his support for gambling, Patterson probably does have a bright future in NT politics.
All he needs to do now is to lobby for increased alcohol availability.