Woolworths forced to come clean on gambling business

Poker machines. Photo / Duncan Brown

Woolworths will be made to explain to shareholders why it owns and operates thousands of poker machines.

Anti-pokies campaigner and independent senator Nick Xenophon has collected enough signatures to force the issue on to the agenda of the firm's annual meeting in November.

More than 11,000 poker machines owned by the supermarket giant operate at Woolworths-owned pubs around the country.

Senator Xenophon's petition calls for an end to the company's poker machine business.

"Woolworths' management needs to explain why the 'fresh food people' have become the 'pokies people'," he said. Poker machine profits often came from problem gamblers, he said.

"Imagine if half of all profits made in Woolworths supermarkets came from people who got sick from the food.

"They'd be closed down in no time, so why are poker machines any different?"

Woolworths holds a 75 per cent stake in the Australian Leisure and Hospitality (ALH) group which operates more than 270 licensed venues and 450 retail liquor outlets.

A spokesman for Woolworths said the ALH group was "committed to providing responsible gambling" in its venues.

- AAP