Dear NEVILLE,

This Sunday, GetUp members created one of the biggest news stories of the weekend. 

Well OK, it wasn’t quite as big as the grand finals. But because of the footy, this weekend’s newspapers were the most read of the year, and they carried a huge story – based on GetUp research – about the shocking impact of Woolworths’ poker machines.

It’s all explained in this new infographic. Check it out and help share it far and wide so the truth is inescapable:

The research was commissioned by GetUp, and conducted by Dr Charles Livingstone of Monash University. It reveals for the first time that Woolworths poker machines are heavily concentrated in Australia’s most socially disadvantaged areas.

Woolworths takes hundreds of millions of dollars a year out of communities that can least afford the destructive impact of poker machine gambling. It’s predatory. The more people know about Woolworths’ secret, the more pressure the company will feel to reform their pokies business.

GetUp members have forced Woolworths into an Extraordinary General Meeting in November to discuss pokies. Let’s keep up the pressure until then.

Will you take a minute to share this on Facebook or Twitter, and let the country know that Woolworths use poker machines to profit from poverty?

http://www.getup.org.au/profiting-from-poverty

The research shows that Woolworths operates a vast network of 12,650 poker machines in 277 venues across Australia. It is estimated that Woolworths poker machines generate $1.292 billion dollars of revenue a year for the company. In fact, 1 in 8 dollars made from poker machines goes to Woolworths.

It will be difficult for Woolworths to hide behind its image as a family friendly supermarket brand if their customers know all about their huge investment in high loss poker machines that exploit the most disadvantaged communities in the country. 

Thanks for all you do,
the GetUp team.

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GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you’d like to contribute to help fund GetUp’s work, please donate now! If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au. To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here. Authorised by Sam Mclean, Level 2, 104 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010.