The national head of the Returned and Services League of Australia has backed a push to stop licensed clubs from using the RSL letters in their names amid internal division over whether poker machines should be phased out of the venues altogether. The RSL president, Greg Melick, said the veterans’ charity was concerned its name was being used by “organisations that don’t share our values” and that licensed clubs should have to ask for permission before using it.
Melick threw his support behind the New South Wales RSL branch president, Mick Bainbridge, who called for gambling clubs to stop using the RSL name because he said it was creating confusion between the charity and pokies venues. “We agree with the approach [Bainbridge] is taking in NSW. We own the name, they don’t,” Melick told Guardian Australia on Friday.
“We are concerned the name is being used by clubs turning over 100s of millions of dollars in gambling revenue without money going to veterans’ welfare. It’s horrible, actually.”
The RSL charity separated from clubs when NSW’s liquor laws were reformed in the 1970s. The clubs and the not-for-profit RSL remained closely affiliated.
Bainbridge this week said gambling had become a significant part of the clubs’ business and had damaged some local communities, veterans and their families.
The RSL is wrestling internally with the issue of poker machines and whether they should be allowed in RSL clubs at all.
Clubs and Pokie Machine Profits
Clubs and hotels in NSW made a record $4.1bn in profits from the pokies in the first half of 2024, according to NSW Liquor and Gaming data. Venues were operating an extra 577 gaming machines in June compared to the previous year, taking NSW’s total to 87,875 – the highest number in action since the end of 2020.
Victorian clubs and hotels operated fewer than one-third as many machines, at just over 26,000. The state has a strict cap of 30,000 poker machines, including about 2,600 allowed at Melbourne’s Crown casino.
The Victorian RSL has faced pushback from younger veterans campaigning against pokies. The Victorian president, Dr Robert Webster, declined to comment other than to say: “We don’t have separate RSL Clubs in Victoria, they are sub-branches.”
The president of the Hawthorn RSL sub-branch, Drew Maddison, said poker machines were “not welcome in the RSL anymore” and his venue decided not to have any when it reopened in 2019. Maddison said 52 of Victoria’s 257 RSL venues had poker machines.
“They divide our RSL network, in the sense that the 52 that do have pokies pretty much run the RSL network,” he said. “It’s a very small percentage of pokie money, if any, that goes back to supporting veterans’ welfare.”
Concerns Over Funding Distribution
The NSW RSL has raised concerns about the distribution of funds under the state’s ClubGrants scheme, which requires that venues with profits over $1m support local community services. Just $1.7m, or 1.4% of the $121m distributed by clubs – including RSL clubs – in 2023, was allocated to support veterans, according to the NSW RSL’s analysis.
The division over allowing gambling in RSL clubs coincides with debate over the future of the pokies in NSW, where the Minns government is trialling cashless gaming. The research trial is Labor’s alternative to the previous Coalition government’s vow to force all poker machines to become cashless by 2028.
Last week, the NSW gaming minister, David Harris, admitted that half the venues that signed up for the government’s cashless gaming trial run had pulled out because they found it too expensive or complicated to implement the necessary technology. Harris told a budget estimates hearing that only 14 pubs and clubs were still participating, down from the 27 that signed on when the government announced the trial at the end of 2023. The number of poker machines involved in the trial had fallen to2,388 machines, and only 32 gamblers were still participating. Harris insisted the researchers were still getting enough data.
A Separate Cause
Veterans are calling for pokies venues to remove RSL from their names, claiming they are two very different causes that should not be confused. The Returned and Services League of Australia - a not-for-profit supporting veterans - cut ties with licensed venues more than 50 years ago but allowed clubs to keep RSL in their names.
But now, RSL NSW president Mick Bainbridge is calling for pokies clubs to drop the term, asserting that venues that promote gambling and the service of alcohol are damaging to the welfare of veterans. “We do have veterans who are in trouble, and putting them in front of a poker machine when they are in need, we would much rather they come to RSL NSW so we can put our arms around them and make sure they get the health and services they need,” Bainbridge said.
RSL clubs made about $1 billion last year, but Bainbridge claims his charity did not receive a cent of that. “There is a lot of confusion in the community about who is the RSL and I am certain that many people out there probably think by going to the club they are supporting their veterans, when in fact, they are not,” Bainbridge said.
“RSL NSW is a completely separate entity and we go about the care and welfare of veterans, whereas RSL clubs are very much about gambling and pokies. [RSL clubs are] a good place to go and have a few beers, but we are certainly different organisations.”
Clubs Respond
RSL AND SERVICES CLUBS ASSOCIATION STATEMENT
RSL and Services clubs have a long history of supporting veterans and their families. Clubs regularly provide funding to worthy ex service organisations — including Disaster Relief Australia, Defence Community Dogs and RSL LifeCare. However, their support extends far beyond financial donations.
RSL and services clubs across NSW provide veterans a place for connection and support particularly on days such as ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day. Clubs also often offer up their facilities and meeting rooms free of charge to veterans' groups.
Having said that, there is always room for improvement, and we look forward to working with stakeholders — including RSL NSW — to better serve veterans and their families, particularly in light of the recent release of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
In its joint submission with ClubsNSW and other industry bodies, the RSL & Services Clubs Association recommended enabling clubs to fund organisations that deliver state-wide services to vulnerable people. The current Guidelines prohibit clubs from funding services that benefit people in other communities, which reduces the support available to organisations that support vulnerable people — including veterans — as this support tends to be provided state-wide.
A Long-Standing Debate
The debate over the use of the letters RSL and the public's association of the name with gambling and alcohol has followed shortly after the release of a landmark Royal Commission into veteran suicides. The final report found that around 3,000 service personnel probably died unnecessarily over the past 30 years. It found that personnel were 20 times more likely to die by suicide than in combat, with at least 1,677 serving and former defence personnel taking their own lives between 1997 and 2021.
Other studies have shown veterans are a high-risk group for gambling problems and experience higher levels of gambling harm than the wider community. Up to 13.4 per cent of veterans reported at least some level of gambling harm, and 4.6 per cent had clinically significant levels.
The NSW Labor government is reviewing the state's ClubGrants scheme to see if it provides value for money and meets expected standards. In its submission to the process, the NSW RSL called for a new funding category specific to veterans' welfare. It has also recommended that all the clubs that use defence-related branding and imagery such as RAAF aircraft, soldier silhouettes, poppies and weaponry, be required to contribute to this category. “This will ensure that the recognition of veterans is not tokenistic, but instead adequately supports what clubs claim to represent,” the submission said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the RSL and Services Clubs Association president Margot Smith for comment on the call for clubs to stop using the name RSL and military branding and imagery.
