THE Melbourne Football Club announces that it has taken action to exit the gaming industry.

This has occurred as a result of the sale of the Leighoak venue, to the Moonee Valley Racing Club which will be effective from 31 July 2018 and the non-renewal of our gaming entitlements at the Bentleigh Club, which will take effect when the current entitlement period expires on 16 August 2022.

“The announcement to exit the gaming industry is a significant day for the Melbourne Football Club,” Chairman Glen Bartlett said.

“Gaming isn’t our core business and whilst it has been a financial imperative to operate within this space in the past, we feel the time was right to take action to exit the industry.

“The Club is in the strongest financial position it has ever been in, and with our members support, we are well placed to grow football-related income and to re-focus our business to make the transition from our reliance on gaming to ensure that we are financially strong and stable for our next generation of members.

“The Club is confident that it secured the best commercial outcome while also prioritising the community sentiment towards gaming machines.

“This is an important day for the Club and there has been a substantial amount of work to achieve this result. It is something the board and the executive have worked on over the past couple of years. We took it to market and we are happy with the commercial outcome.”

“I would like to particularly thank our board, and CEO Peter Jackson, Chief Financial Officer David Chippindall and Chief Commercial Officer George de Crespigny for leading the negotiations on behalf of the Club”.