Multimillionaire gambler says he wants to ‘de-bias’ a state election that has seen large amounts spent on pro-pokies advertising

David Walsh, the multimillionaire gambler and founder of Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona), has revealed he donated $250,000 to Tasmania’s anti-pokies movement in an attempt to “de-bias” a state election campaign believed to be flooded with pro-pokies money.

It comes as the Hodgman Liberal government is facing calls to reveal before Saturday’s election how much it has received in donations from the hospitality industry, particularly Federal Group, the family-owned company with the exclusive pokies machine licence in the state.

Analysts say the election appears to have been the most expensive in Tasmania’s history, with advertising spending on behalf of the Liberals dwarfing that of Labor and the Greens, which both support removing poker machines from pubs and clubs.

In a blog post on the Mona website, Walsh accused the pro-pokies lobby of “trying to bias our population” by spending heavily in the campaign.

“That’s why I’m involved. I can live with pokies, provided they are what the people want, so I’m spending money (but much less money that the pro-pokie people) to attempt to de-bias the election,” he wrote.

It's another mining tax campaign: how the gaming lobby is fighting the Tasmanian election Read more

Walsh said opinions in democracy, unlike betting markets, should be weighted evenly. “When they aren’t (because some, like me, can get their opinions heard) the right to express an opinion should be voided by skin in the game,” he said. “You shouldn’t be able to buy an election for the purpose of enriching yourself.”

Walsh acknowledged he made his fortune from gambling, but said he got lucky. He said pokies appeared to be the only form of gambling that was addictive by design.

He said his support of the Rein in the Pokies campaign could cost him if, as polls suggest is likely, the Liberals retained government.

“The Liberal party has been a significant ally, particularly with the [Mona] festivals, but it is the favourite to win the election, and, even though I stated my opinion before they did, some Liberals might be grumpy at me thereafter,” he wrote. “I might regret my decision to spend $250 grand opposing pokies, but that won’t make it the wrong decision.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mona founder David Walsh has donated $250,000 to ‘de-bias the election’. Photograph: Leigh Carmichael

Walsh’s voluntary disclosure comes as the government continues to decline to say how much it has received from the hospitality industry.

Asked repeatedly at a Sky News leaders’ debate on Wednesday whether voters deserved to know who was bankrolling the Liberal campaign, the premier, Will Hodgman, said: “Yeah, and they will and it will be in accordance with the rules by which we are all bound.”

Tasmania does not have campaign-finance disclosure laws. It is subject to federal legislation requiring annual release of total donations and the specifics of any donation greater than $13,500. Donations made this financial year are not required to be made public until 2019.

Labor claims the government and its hospitality industry supporters would have spent about $5m on advertising. If elected, the ALP leader, Rebecca White, has promised legislation requiring public reporting of all donations above a threshold less than $2,000 within 14 days of the money being received. But Labor says it will not release more than the existing law requires unless it is changed.

The Greens and the Jacqui Lambie Network say they reveal donations in as close to real time as possible.

Labor has pledged to remove pokies from pubs and clubs by 2023, but would allow Federal Group’s gaming machine monopoly in casinos to stand. Critics accuse it of threatening hospitality jobs and denying the state a revenue stream.

‘Labor thinks you’re stupid’: pokies lobby fights hard in Tasmanian election Read more

Hodgman says the government would end Federal Group’s monopoly outside casinos by licensing individual pubs and clubs directly under contracts that would last until 2043. Critics say the government is just giving the industry what it wants, having adopted a Federal Group and Tasmanian Hospitality Association submission as its policy and ignoring evidence of the social harm of poker machines. Federal owns 12 of the state’s 20 biggest gaming machine venues.

In his blog, Walsh highlighted a 1993 quote by the Federal Group chief executive, Greg Farrell, that “direct access to gaming machines in pubs and clubs would have a disastrous effect on the social and special culture of Tasmania”.

The comment came as the state government was first considering allowing pokies in pubs and clubs after two decades of the machines being restricted to Federal Group casinos in Hobart and Launceston.

Walsh wrote that Farrell “believed that he might not get the poker machine licence, and if he didn’t, and others did, it would impact his casino business”. “In terms of probabilities he was right. In terms of ethics, he was also right. But I bet he wishes he hadn’t said it.”

A Federal Group spokeswoman declined to comment.

