The Canberra Labor Club posted a loss of more than $10 million in the past financial year, and recorded a significant fall in pokies revenue amid coronavirus restrictions which forced the club to temporarily shut its doors.
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The number of staff working across its venues was also cut by 10 per cent, the club's annual report showed.
The Labor Party-owned club's directors said the effects of the pandemic were ongoing, and it was impractical to estimate the potential impact going forward.
"The situation is rapidly developing and is dependent on measures imposed by the Australian government and other countries, such as maintaining social-distancing requirements, quarantine, travel restrictions and any economic stimulus that may be provided," the report said.
In the 2019-20 financial year, the club recorded an after-tax loss of $10.7 million, up from an after-tax loss in of $192,394 the previous year.
Club chief executive Arthur Roufogalis said in his report the operation of the club's new Mercure hotel in January 2020 led to an impairment of $11.7 million.
"The hotel opened for trade on 22 January 2020 with promising early results before the impact of the pandemic and travel restrictions," Mr Roufogalis wrote.
"We were required to have it valued as at 30 June 2020. The valuation reflected the extremely poor trading results during the pandemic which substantially impacted its value."
Poker machine revenue fell by more than 28 per cent, from $24.3 million in 2018-19 to $17.4 million in 2019-20.
The club has voluntarily surrendered gaming machine licences valued at $1.5 million, and can use the value of the licences as a discount on future development charges until March 2026 as part of an ACT government scheme to reduce the number of gaming machines in the territory.
The club claimed $1.1 million in community purpose contributions, including more than $400,000 of in-kind support.
Those contributions included more than $200,000 in support for club staff during the COVID-19 emergency.
The contributions amounted to roughly 10 per cent of the club's total net gaming machine revenue. Clubs are required to spend at least 8 per cent of that revenue on community contributions.
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But club president Brian Weir warned the impact of COVID-19 on the club's finances would affect its ability to provide community support in the coming year.
Other club and hotel revenue dropped from $8.7 million to $6.8 million in the last financial year.
The number of club members also fell by 3 per cent in the last financial year to 40,565.
Vikings Group, which has four venues in Tuggeranong, reported a $5.4 million loss in 2019-20 - the largest in its 40-year history.
Southern Cross Club, which has venues in Woden, Greenway and Jamison, suffered a $2.14 million loss in 2019-20, having projected a surplus of more than $1 million earlier in the year.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
