Victoria’s RSLs made $163m from gambling but gave only $8.4m in direct community funding

RSLs in Victoria made more than $163m from gambling in the last financial year, but provided just $8.4m in donations, gifts and sponsorship, according to their own statements to the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission.

The clubs are registered charities and have social mission statements, such as to assist veterans, people at risk of homelessness or the financially disadvantaged. Of the almost 300 RSLs in Victoria, more than 50 are licensed for poker machines.

In order to receive gambling tax concessions, the clubs are required to spend 8.3% of gaming revenue on "community purposes". Their statements show that more than 80% of claimed community benefits in 2021-22 was "indirect" - taking the form of wages, utilities and other RSL operating costs.

And despite the huge social harms attributed to gambling, even the total claimed community benefit was often as little as 25% of the money lost by gamblers.

A spokesperson from RSL Victoria said RSLs received minimal government support and that "funding for our support of veterans and their families throughout Victoria comes from two sources: our community appeals and commercial operations".

Francis's research between 2012 and 2015 found claimed community benefits to be "overvalued", with up to 82% consisting of wages, venue maintenance, capital costs and utilities, and just 4.5% of expenditure going to charitable and philanthropic purposes. She said the issue was prevalent across the country, except in Western Australia, where poker machines are restricted to the casino.

Guardian Australia looked at the yearly statements of 55 Victorian RSLs registered with the gaming commission. The findings were consistent with Francis's research, with wages making up between 40% and 60% of claimed community benefits for most Victorian RSLs over the past five years, where data is available.

The statements break community benefit into three classes: A, B and C. The data shows the vast majority of spending goes to class B, "indirect" expenditure that includes operating costs such as wages and utilities. Many RSLs do not claim any spending on activities to address gambling harm (class C) despite earning millions in gambling revenue.

Many clubs saw a large increase in their relative community benefit in 2020 and 2021, when gambling revenues declined.

Even clubs with much higher ratios of community benefit to gambling revenue may not necessarily have spent more on donations or sponsorships. In 2021-22, 98% of Warrnambool RSL's total community benefit was for the club's operating costs.

Warrnambool RSL and Community Clubs Victoria declined to comment.

Below you can see the percentage of gaming expenditure claimed as community benefit for each club for the past five financial years.

Many RSLs do not claim to have spent money or resources on activities to tackle gambling harm - apart from what they are legally required to do. Francis said many RSLs spent more on subsidising food or preparing their yearly statements.

"That cheap parma is basically being paid for by hundreds of people that can't afford it being infected by gambling harm."

Research shows some of the harms of gambling include family violence, psychological issues, reduced work performance and financial stresses.

The RSL Victoria spokesperson said the organisation "has a very strong commitment to its obligations in running commercial gaming operations. The RSL is a responsible provider of gaming operations and works to have a benchmark for our operations that is both higher and more stringent than the standard required by our regulators."

Many RSL clubs are located in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Guardian Australia found that net electronic gaming machine expenditure in RSLs is about 50% higher per capita in more disadvantaged areas than in more advantaged areas.

You can see below the percentage of claimed benefits over the past five years that fall under class B - wages and other operating costs.

The community benefit statements were meant to bring more transparency to the impact that clubs have. But Francis said the picture was even murkier than 10 years ago.

One example is wages, which are often the largest line items in the community benefit statements. Some clubs employ counsellors for their veteran members. But it is hard to gauge how much is spent on this rather than for hospitality or other staff. Many RSLs simply lump all wages together or put it with other operating costs.

"This is their opportunity to shine and say, 'look what we've done with the community'," Francis said. "But they are still not necessarily a true reflection [of the community impact]."