WYNDHAM City Council is dismayed that Geelong Football Club was granted approval for pokies at the proposed $3.5 million entertainment complex at Point Cook.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation (VCGR) has given the go-ahead for 80 gaming machines at the Point Cook Community Sports Club, which the club wants to build in Sneydes Rd.

The Cats promised to give $100,000 to local sporting and community clubs each year if approval for the complex was granted.

Wyndham mayor Shane Bourke said the council was disappointed with the gambling regulator’s decision but would abide by it.

“The council’s policy is for a cap of 572 gaming machines in the municipality and we’re already at that,” he said.

“Nevertheless we have to abide by the decision of the umpire.

“About 90 per cent of the community has said to us in surveys we’ve conducted that they don’t want any more gaming machines in the city of Wyndham.

“Just because we’re a growing municipality, we don’t want to have these machines dotted right through.

“I’d like to see organisations stand on their own two feet without having gaming machines.

“It’s something as a council we feel strongly about.”

Cr Bourke said the next stage in the process was the complex would come up before council for approval.

“What we think of the gaming machines is totally different to how we look at the building itself,” he said.

“The council will make its decision on the merits of the planning application.”

The council has previously expressed its opposition to more gaming machines because of the social consequences of some people becoming addicted to gambling.

VCGR figures show Wyndham residents spent more than $67 million on gaming machines in 2005-06.

The statistics show more than $58 million has already been spent from July 2006, to the end of April this year.

The venues are clubs and hotels in Hoppers Crossing, Werribee and Laverton North.

There is no venue in Point Cook with gaming machines at present.

The Geelong Football Club did not return calls from Star before going to press.

However, it is known that the proposed complex includes a bar, bistro, lounge and function room, as well as the gaming room, and is planned to open by 2009.

Geelong Football Club president Frank Costa last week told a Geelong newspaper he wanted to stay on as president to see the project through.

The VCGR said in its decision about the pokies that the club’s $100,000 contribution would benefit the community and that gaming was a legitimate recreational activity.

However, the commission said it wanted to see details of how the money would be distributed before the complex was opened.

Geelong Football Club, euphoric after winning the AFL Premiership, has said it plans to treat the Point Cook complex as a second home, with players stopping there after its Melbourne games to greet fans.

A significant proportion of the club’s members live in Melbourne.