Souths likely to reject ban on pokies

The Herald understands the chairman and the board of the club believe the proposal is unrealistic.

The chairman, Bill Alexiou-Hucker, said: "The mood of the membership is that [ideally] they would like to be a club without poker machines … but they also understand that you need them to survive.

"I do believe, to be quite honest, that … to go down the no poker machine road would be a far more difficult path to take for the financial security of the club."

Mr Alexiou-Hucker said he had been told by senior members of the club's management that the decision would be up to the members. "Their message to me is they will support us whether we go with poker machines or not."

Mr Holmes a Court's proposal, announced in September, was always seen as ambitious. When he announced it, he said: "The conventional wisdom is that if you don't have poker machines a club will go broke, but I believe that there are plenty of people who don't come because of the pokies. I believe it's about finding a whole new audience."

Mr Holmes a Court, who co-owns the Rabbitohs with the actor Russell Crowe, was in the US and not available for comment, a football club spokesman said.

In a letter from the board to members before next week's vote, arguments are presented for and against a ban.

The letter says that removing 60 machines from the club would cost it $1 million a year in income.

"The financial returns poker machines can deliver and the opportunities this revenue can offer the club, used correctly, cannot … be ignored," the letter said.

The chief executive of Clubs NSW, David Costello, backed a decision not to get rid of the machines.

"The latest independent research shows that the rate of problem gambling has decreased to just 0.8 per cent of the population," Mr Costello said.

"The previous campaign to remove poker machines made no acknowledgment of this fact nor of the dire financial predicament of many of the clubs who have sold off their pokies in recent years. Souths' members deserve to know this."

Yesterday, Clubs NSW said clubs around the state had suffered their worst financial year on record, after the introduction of a full indoor smoking ban last July.

Overall income fell 11 per cent or $385 million in 2007-08.

High petrol prices are also understood to have had an impact on club revenue.

A statement from Clubs NSW said: "The downturn is largely the result of the indoor smoking ban.

"The overall financial impact upon clubs is much greater, with clubs spending $422 million building outdoor smoking areas which have prevented smokers from moving to the footpath or street when wishing to light up."

The worst affected region during 2007-08 was the Sydney central business district, where income fell 21.7 per cent. The second worst affected was outer western Sydney, where it fell 15.5 per cent. In the eastern suburbs, it dropped 14.2 per cent.