Sporties 'faces closure' again
The secretary-manager of Woy Woy Sporties, Mr Ben King, has claimed the registered club will have to close if the Federal Government proceeds with the National Gambling Reform Bill.
In a statement issued by ClubsNSW, Mr King said that his club would be required to spend $532,000 by 2016 if the Bill was adopted.
Mr King said he did not understand how the Government expected a club like Sporties to find more than half a million dollars to install this technology by 2016.
He said the club would need to replace each of its 32 machines at a cost of up to $25,000 each.
He said that the Bill gave clubs with more than 20 poker machines just half the time to replace their machines that was recommended by the Productivity Commission
However, Mr King rejected a suggestion of selling some of the poker machine licences to avoid closure or to reduce the number of machines to 20 so that the club had more time to find the money for the required technology.
He told Peninsula News: "You've got an entitlement to have X number of machines and you wouldn't want to lose that entitlement because it is very hard to get more machines approved."
The Central Coast Express-Advocate recently reported that the Woy Woy Bowling Club was "fighting for survival".
"If the club is to continue into the future, it needs more members," the newspaper stated.
"Like many clubs, we are battling to stay open and more members, especially ladies, would certainly help that," president Mr Jim Cassidy was reported as saying.
Speaking to Peninsula News, Mr King denied that the club was having difficulty retaining the patronage and bowling club membership needed to remain viable.
"We get audited every year and we've got to be solvent," he said.
The announcement of the possible closure comes almost 10 years after the board of the club placed it into administration.
Bids at that time to merge the club with other registered clubs failed, before an arrangement with creditors was made which allowed the club to come out of administration and continue trading in its own right.
Media Release, 21 Nov 2012
Carissa Simons, ClubsNSW