South Australian 'No Pokies' MP, Nick Xenophon, has new ammunition in his call for a referendum on whether to ban poker machines.
The latest auditor-general's report shows national turnover on poker machines reached a record $7 billion in the past financial year, that is despite 1,400 of them being taken out of circulation.
South Australian gamblers also lost a record amount of money - a total of $751 million, or nearly $2 million a day.
Mr Xenophon says pokies are destroying hundreds of families and South Australians should be given a chance to have their say.
"If the Government is serious about taking on the damage caused by pokies, about the devastation caused to tens of thousands of people in the state, then it ought to give South Australians a say at the next state election via a referendum as to whether we want pokies in our community at all," he said.
source : www.http://www.abc.net.au
