Greens release gambling policy: after more control of pub pokies

ONE NEWS: The Green Party is calling for tougher control over poker machines in pubs.

The Greens released their latest gambling policy, ahead of Gamble-Free Day on Monday.

Greens' gambling spokeswoman Sue Bradford says pokie machines are often found in low-income areas where problem gambling can cause a lot of damage to a community.

She says local councils and communities should be able to ban the machines in their areas altogether if they want to.
Bradford also says the government needs to ensure profits from the machines are distributed more fairly as a lot of the profits end up being spent in more well-off communities.

She says the money given to charities from pokies doesn't cancel out the damage they do to the community and the government hasn't done anything like enough to reduce it.

Bradford wants law changes to help local communities deal with problem gambling.