By Justin Schwarze, Matilda McDermott, Natalie Fleming and Harriette Hobson (RMIT Graduating students)
As the final siren blared around IKON Park for the 2024 Victorian Football League (VFL) Grand Final, the Werribee Football Club and its faithful erupted into scenes of pure jubilation. It was the first premiership in 31 years.
The three-decade drought was defined by hardship and adversity, both on and off the field.
Financial insecurities and three grand final losses in that period fuelled the desire for the win. The club’s dramatic turnaround was complete.
Player development, elite coaching staff, and determination from an invested playing group helped the standalone club once again reach the VFL summit.
But there was another factor that contributed to the turnaround.
Coming back from the deep-end of financial trouble, recording a loss of over $1.5 million dollars in 2020, the Tigers bounced back just a few years later, with a surplus according to its 2021 annual report.
One of the main contributors to the rapid financial turnaround is the club’s purchase of more than 150 pokies machines.
As part of their investment profile, the Werribee Football Club owns two entertainment venues: The Tigers Clubhouse in Hoppers Crossing (85 electronic gaming machines) and Club Tarneit, a hospitality venue opened in May of 2024, (70 electronic gaming machines).
In the 2024/25 financial year, the electronic gaming machines (EGMs) in the Tigers Clubhouse recorded a $17.9 million dollar intake from gambling losses according to the Victorian Gambling Casino Control Commission.
That’s nearly $50 thousand dollars a day.
Their other venue, Club Tarneit, recorded $6.1 million dollars in gambling losses in the same period.
These figures contribute to the City of Wyndham’s already huge gambling losses, with a total of over $342 thousand dollars lost a day in the 2022 to 2023 financial year, as shown in the Wyndham Gambling Harm Prevention Policy Statement.
Werribee is one of seven standalone VFL clubs, competing against fellow independent clubs and Australian Football League (AFL) Reserves teams at the state level.
Being a standalone club comes with a plethora of challenges, including no financial input from an AFL alignment, and competition among local clubs offering lucrative deals to retain or poach players.
In order to remain financially viable, Werribee and other standalone clubs have to navigate ways to pay their staff, players and venue fees, often relying heavily on the wider community and volunteers to stay in the league.
Wyndham’s ongoing struggle with gambling harm
While the Werribee Football Club revel in their newfound financial freedom and their 2024 premiership, their local community, Wyndham, battles an ongoing gambling epidemic.
In early 2021, The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) approved the 70 pokies machines at Club Tarneit, amid backlash and opposition from the local community and council.
The Wyndham City Council December 2023 Gambling Harm Prevention Policy, shows that residents lost $124.9 million from 2022 to 2023 to EGMs.
This equates to over $342,201 per day in that financial year, ranking Wyndham as the seventh highest in losses per municipality in Victoria.
Rebecca Paterson, the Director of Policy, Leadership Councils and Government Engagement at the Alliance for Gambling Reform, believes there’s a “very significant cost” to the community from gambling, beyond financial losses.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform is a national organization aiming to reduce gambling harm and has outlined the wide-reaching impact of these venues.
“Think about it in the way that every dollar that’s spent, there’s two dollars’ worth of social costs to the community as a whole,” Paterson said.
“That includes things like emotional and psychological harms, including mental health issues and suicide, relationship impacts like divorce or family violence.”
Paterson is also concerned that community clubs organisations like VFL clubs feel they need to turn to owning pokies to remain viable and competitive.
“I think it sends the wrong message to the community, I think it sends the wrong message to players and families and kids who are playing or are part of the club or looking to become part of it,” she said.
“It really normalises gambling, because this is an adult product, it’s a product that’s designed for people over 18.”
“I think it’s just unfortunate that we’ve created an environment where that’s an option for clubs to be able to gain a bit of an edge over competitors.”
“It would be great if clubs had other options and if they were competing on a level playing field by having similar opportunities to access funding.”
Ifraah Hassan works as Senior Therapeutic Counsellor with the Salvation Army Gambling Support Service and lives in Melbourne’s west.
It’s here where she sees first-hand how easily gambling addiction can take hold and the impact it has on the community.
“It could be just for fun, going out with a couple of mates, maybe having a big win or thinking that it was a nice night out and want to go again and then one thing seems to lead to another,” she said.
According to Hassan, it becomes an issue when gamblers can’t stop thinking about pokies and becomes secretive about their addiction.
“The impact is huge not only to themselves but to the community, because they might get into debt, they might not be able to pay for what they need.”
While Hassan understands the financial benefits pokies bring to sporting clubs by supporting people to play sport and to sustain clubs, she says they create larger negative impacts to the wider community.
“I don’t think (sporting clubs) really have a greater understanding of how impactful it is for a person who might be playing footy for that club and how that is impacting them in the grand scheme of things, I think it’s a double-edged sword.”
Hassan believes greater transparency around pokie machine profits, and knowing how much money individuals lose, could prompt people to rethink how much they spend.
“It would wake a lot of people up to actually understand the amount of revenue that venues or businesses are actually getting from them and how it is harming them in the long run.”
“Then they can come and seek some help, as I don’t think services like ours are really well known.”
Finding and seeking help can be difficult for people struggling with gambling addiction as resources are scarce and difficult to access. This often leaves those suffering from addiction to feel isolated and stranded.
A Wyndham resident’s lived experience with gambling addiction
Merapi Gabriel lived with a gambling addiction in Wyndham, just one kilometre away from Werribee Football Club’s Venue, Club Tarneit.
Originally from New Zealand, Gabriel noted there were at least four gambling venues within walking distance from her house, and these regular visits would soon turn into date night with her husband.
“We came here really looking for a fresh start but it was on the bus route, it’s amazing with these places, it (pokies) was so easy to get to,” she said.
After battling with the addiction for around a decade, Gabriel reached out for help, but struggled with finding a local service.
“There was no support here, there were no groups,” she stated. “There was nowhere we could go and speak to other people that were going through what we were going through, and couldn’t find anything in the west.
“I ended up reaching out to Heidelberg because that was the closest one that had a support group.”
Gabriel says that if VFL clubs and similar organisations are associated with pokies, they should have support services in place to help those that are becoming consumed by the addiction.
“If they’re going to give permits to these places to run, they should also be providing support systems for when people crash because it’s inevitable, it’s gonna happen,” she said.
“I think it’s only their duty of care to make sure that that happens.”
How do other standalone VFL clubs survive?
Frankston Football Club, known as the Dolphins, is another standalone VFL club who have never had an AFL alignment, despite being in the competition since 1966.
“Being standalone is a core part of our identity,” says Club President Steven Finnochiaro.
Frankston Dolphins went through a period where it owned 27 pokies machines but removed them in 2016 after the club entered voluntary administration.
The debt amounted to around $1million dollars, partly related to their ownership of the machines, which resulted in the club losing their license in the VFL for the 2017 season.
“They were shut off at a time of big turmoil for the club,” Finocchiaro said.
“When you assess it holistically, yes their removal was good, because pokies bring a lot of negative social impact to the community.
“However, it makes it extremely difficult to compete in the league without them, so there’s a bit of a catch there, our job would be much easier if we had them, but that’s not to say that we want to.”
“It was a decision made out of necessity and we’ve just all moved on, but not having them is just that little bit extra difficult,” he said.
Although Frankston has moved past pokies, Finocchiaro understands why VFL teams such as Werribee and Williamstown keep them for financial support.
“[The clubs] still provide a net social benefit whilst they do have some revenue from pokies, they’re a sporting club and they provide jobs for people and a pathway for people to play football,” he said.
And whilst these clubs are pillars of the local community, they are still businesses that run at a cost. Turning a profit continues to be an issue that independent clubs run into.
Frankston was able to overcome the license removal and financial hardship with the assistance of the state government waiving 90 percent of the club’s debt; with the Dolphins returning to the VFL in 2018.
The Preston Football Club (Northern Bullants) is also hoping to replicate a similar rebound.
The historic club lost its VFL license on 6 October 2025 due to concerns over mounting financial debt and on-field non-competitiveness.
“You just don’t get the exposure and really you get the breadcrumbs, we’re the minnows in the ocean,” says Club President Neil Howard.
“You’ve got your coaching staff, your doctor, your physiotherapist, your conditioning coach, your statisticians, and then you’re probably looking at unpaid volunteers, and you need a circle of them.
“We’ve got to survive marketing talent, and that marketing includes your sponsorship, your merchandise, your apparel, your memberships, your canteens, all those things that are running per week.
“But of course, they quickly get absorbed by all those costs.”
“If you’re playing at home, before the first ball is bounced in the centre square, you’re looking at paying your players, your doctors, your physiotherapists, your general manager, who’s on a salary.”
“You’ve got to have $25 thousand in your pocket,” Howard continued. “And that might be a slight understatement, it might be around 30 to 32 thousand. We just cannot survive.”
Since COVID, all four VFL grand finals, including 2025, have featured either Werribee, Southport (a Queensland-based VFL club with over 290 pokies machines) or an AFL supported Reserves side.
The correlation between financial and on-field success seems evident thus, standalone clubs look to other avenues to survive.
With Werribee’s success comes a cost to the community.
The pokies help the club succeed in an impossible financial landscape, but the gambling losses and lack of support in the Wyndham and Melbourne’s west generally, make it a difficult conundrum.
The Werribee Football Club and Wyndham Council were contacted for comment.
For gambling support you call
Lifeline on 1800 858 858 or head to
Gambling Help Online at toolkit.lifeline.org.au/articles/support/gambling-help-online
