“But the RSL’s focus on gaming has been at the cost of its support to veterans. These gaming clubs are not for us and nor is the money they’re generating.” Of the more than 165,000 RSL members statewide, only 24,000 are returned servicemen and women. Many are social members who enjoy the relatively inexpensive drink, food, entertainment and gaming promoted by the big RSL clubs. Running commercial hospitality businesses for the wider community was also not the RSL’s original remit, said Mr Moon, a chartered accountant who has pored over RSL accounts for the past two years. The Victorian RSL is made up of a central state organisation plus about 280 semi-autonomous local sub-branches. Of the sub-branches, 52 have poker machines that generated about $300 million in revenue in 2017. The profit from gaming clubs in 2017 was $8.4 million.

Mr Moon’s analysis of sub-branch statutory accounts indicates that some clubs are spending nothing on direct veteran welfare in some years. RSL state president Dr Robert Webster. Credit:Rob Gunstone His summary is broadly supported by research from the City of Greater Dandenong, which has opposed more pokies for the Dandenong RSL. Its analysis of RSL sub-branch disclosure of "community benefit" spending to the state government also points to some clubs contributing nothing directly to veteran welfare.

Loading In an interview with The Age, RSL state president Dr Robert Webster and chief executive Michael Annett confirmed a total of about $9.8 million of gaming club revenue was spent on community and veteran welfare and charity in 2017. However, Victorian gaming providers are legally required to spend a small portion of gaming revenue on approved community purposes or activities. The $9.8 million includes spending, for instance, on grants to local sporting clubs and charities, and on subsidised meals for customers.

Dr Webster acknowledged he did not know specifically how much of the $9.8 million was spent on veteran welfare. He said the sub-branch figures did not provide that level of detail. What is known is that the RSL’s traditional fundraising campaigns, the ANZAC and poppy appeals, generate about $6 million a year. These funds make up the bulk of the RSL’s contribution to veteran welfare. Mr Moon said the RSL involvement in gaming was "a terrible investment for veterans". “We have $500 million in assets in these clubs for a return of $1 million in veteran welfare,” he said. The RSL’s involvement in gaming has been controversial since Victoria legalised poker machines in the early 1990s.

But for the first time, the issue is being confronted head-on as part of a reform push by veterans from conflicts and peacekeeping missions over the past 20 years. Three veterans lead the reform group: Mr Moon (East Timor army), a Liberal Party member; Dan Cairnes (army officer in Iraq), an aspiring Labor MP; and Dave Petersen (army officer in Afghanistan), president of the Camberwell RSL sub-branch who is also a Greens activist. They have put aside their political differences to push for change and to separate the 103-year-old league from the gaming industry. The men say the RSL is out of touch in particular with the post-Vietnam veterans, who see little value in, or benefit from, the league’s pokie business. In Anzac week they are pressing for major changes including updated RSL election rules and for an end to RSL gaming within 10 years.

Mr Cairnes was a full-time army officer for almost 10 years, which included a stint in Iraq. When he left the service in 2014, he was keen to catch up with fellow veterans with similar backgrounds and experience. That, he said, was the whole point of the RSL. But he found the big gaming clubs off-putting: “There were no veterans in these places. So what is the point of them?” The reformers are also critical of the close relationship the RSL has formed with Tabcorp, which has contracts to manage machines - there are currently about 2800 - in all but a handful of the RSL gaming venues. The Age understands Tabcorp earns revenue of about $30 million alone from its pokie contract with the RSL.

Tabcorp provides $500,000 a year in corporate sponsorship to the RSL as part of a $5 million 10-year sponsorship deal described by Mr Moon as a “potential conflict of interest”. RSL chief executive Michael Annett rejects this and says that substantial sponsorship resulted from the RSL “maximising leverage” on its corporate partners. Dr Webster said he had no regrets about the RSL embracing poker machines. Would he support the move if a decision were to be made today? “Yes, I think so.” Former sailor Jon Tubby has lost thousands of dollars on the pokies. Credit:Chris Hopkins It is an answer that does not sit well with former sailor Jon Tubby.

He has lost many thousands of dollars on poker machines, excessive drinking and narcotics since he was discharged from service in 2012 after a troubled navy career. “Pokies are this kind of weird comfort to some veterans,’’ said Mr Tubby, who found they worked like a drug to suppress negative thoughts and emotions. One night alone he spent more than $4000 on poker machines and alcohol. Mr Tubby, now 29, is fighting his problems with gambling and drinking and said he would never join a gaming RSL. “I think it’s abhorrent that the RSL sold itself out for gaming revenue," he said.

"It defeats the purpose the RSL was founded for.” Dr Webster acknowledges that the RSL gaming clubs are not for everyone, including many younger veterans. He said the RSL prided itself on its record of responsible gaming and alcohol provision. He said that without these big clubs and the turnover they generated, the RSL would not provide the wide range of services it does, including support for surrounding smaller sub-branches without gaming. Mr Annett stresses that the RSL is a "broad church” that crosses five generations. He said many older RSL members appreciated the modern facilities of the big clubs.

Nonetheless, he also notes that the RSL is now focused on catering for those who served in the Middle East or East Timor over the past 20 years. It plans to establish veteran hubs which will tailor services to individuals. Dr Webster said the RSL’s young reforming critics suffered a sense of “entitlement” and impatience. Mr Annett puts it more diplomatically: “They have a sense of expectation that they want things to happen quickly because they grew up in the digital age." Mr Cairnes dismisses this critique.

“We’re impatient because there’s been no change for years. Nothing’s working. The rules are archaic.” The Victorian RSL state conference is in July, when the state executive election results are also announced.