Today's budget announcement that GST will rise to 15 percent means there is less money available to community groups from the proceeds of gambling, says Community Gaming Association chairman John Burke.
The Government's share of the gambling pie will now be bigger than any other share, he said.
In addition to GST the Government already takes 20 percent of net revenue as a gaming duty, more than 1.5 percent as a Problem Gambling Levy and about another 1 to 2 percent as fees for monitoring, licensing and compliance activities by the Department of Internal Affairs.
"The Class 4 gambling sector has always paid its way, now the Government intends to take more," said Mr Burke.
"The only place this can come from is the share of proceeds which goes back to the community."
He said the Government could be fair by agreeing to a CGA proposal that it reviews the level at which gaming duty was set so the impact on the community was diminished.
"This is particularly important at a time when most community groups are already struggling to get funding because of the decline in the economy and the reduction in revenues from gambling on pokies," Mr Burke said.
