Why Tom Elliott thinks the Bulldogs’ latest move is ‘just a bit of useless virtue-signalling’

The Western Bulldogs are the latest AFL club to distance themselves from gaming machines, selling their licences for 65 poker machines to the Melbourne Racing Club.

The Bulldogs are describing it as a “landmark moment” for the club and have received plenty of praise from fans for doing so, given the social damage they can cause.

But Tom Elliott says they’ve just handballed the problem elsewhere.

“To me, it’s just a bit of useless virtue-signalling,” the 3AW Drive host said.

“Whoever they sell the machines to, in this case it’s the Melbourne Racing Club, won’t shut the machines down.

“In fact, it can’t afford to do so.

“So all 65 machines that the Bulldogs used to own will still be sucking money out of people’s pockets.

“And you could argue that because the Bulldogs are getting paid a lot of money to surrender those poker machines that, in effect, they’re just being paid for several years of profits in the future.

“So, the Bulldogs are still profiting from poker machines, even though they have sold them to a different operator.

“So, if I was the Bulldogs, I wouldn’t be waving the virtue flag all that hard.

“Those machines you used to own are still out there in the community doing what poker machines do, and that’s sucking money out of people’s pockets.”

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