🟠 Okey-dokey for pokie
Also: Better rentals, shadow puppets and chilli challenge
Matthew Sims
June 26, 2026
⏱️ The 147th edition of our newsletter is a seven-minute read.
Hi there 👋
Matthew Sims here, your reporter at the Eastern Melburnian.
🍻 Affectionately known by locals and regulars as the “Dirty Dorset”, the Dorset Gardens Hotel has become an icon of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs over the years. It’s even been immortalised in Australian Crawl’s 1980 hit “The Boys Light Up” and was used as the venue for the reception for John Farnham’s marriage to Jillian Billman.
The Australian Women’s Weekly covered the wedding ceremony and reception in April 1973.
🎰 But that’s all in the past. My reporting this week has focused on the future — namely the hotel’s plans to install an additional eight poker machines.
🔎 When I was researching my piece last week on Maroondah Council cutting ties with pokie venues, I discovered a document from the state’s gambling and casino regulator regarding an application from the hotel to increase its machine numbers from 97 to 105.
It stated that the increase would allow the pub to potentially borrow $6 million from ANZ Bank as part of renovations slated to cost $7.4 million (including GST).
💰 ANZ Bank was interested in backing the project with a $6 million loan, but one of the conditions was that the pub have 105 pokies instead of 97.
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Today, we’re covering:
The renters in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs freezing through winter and the relief that could be on the way thanks to new minimum rental standards;
ANZ Bank showing interest in supporting Dorset Gardens Hotel’s proposed redevelopment, if it installs eight new poker machines, and;
The ultimate guide to winter school holidays events.
“In the summertime, it’s like an oven and in the wintertime, it doesn’t keep the heat in.”
WHAT’S COMING UP 🎟️
FRIDAY 26/06/26 TO SUNDAY 26/06/26 | Immerse
SATURDAY 27/06/26, 7PM | X
SATURDAY 27/06/26, 7.30PM | Jenny Talia
EVERY DAY TO SUNDAY 12/07/26, 10AM-5PM | Play School: Come and Play!
SATURDAY 27/06/26 TO SATURDAY 11/07/26 | Melbourne Magic Festival
SATURDAY 04/07/26, 4-8PM | While You’re Young
SATURDAY 04/07/26, 5-10PM | Bombay Food Festival
📰 THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES
When the gas heater in 60-year-old Ben Kreunen’s Ringwood East rental broke, his landlord replaced it with a new gas system, but did not attend to the home’s poor insulation.
He spends about $400 a month on gas and $200 on electricity.
Under Victoria’s new minimum rental standards, to be implemented early next year, landlords in similar situations would be required to install efficient electric heating and improve insulation — cutting bills for renters across Melbourne’s east.
From March 1 2027, landlords and rental providers will be required to deliver new and more efficient systems in heating, cooling, hot water, shower heads, ceiling insulation and draught proofing.
The standards would apply when an existing system fails or can’t be repaired, at the start of a new rental agreement, or if an annual agreement becomes monthly.
In terms of ceiling insulation, the standards would only apply at the start of a new rental agreement and if there is currently no ceiling insulation in place.
For heating and cooling, landlords would be required to replace an existing heater – most commonly a reverse-cycle system that can heat a space in winter and cool it in summer – when it is broken or malfunctions to a point beyond repair.
For hot water, property owners would have to put in an efficient heat pump water heater or an electric-boosted solar water heater when the current system breaks down.
According to the new legislation, all rental properties must have cooling installed from July 1, 2030, regardless of the rental status.
An uninsulated ceiling accounts for 25 to 35 percent of a home's total heat loss during winter, while upgrading from a conventional hot water heater to an electric heat pump can cut a home’s energy usage by up to 75 percent.
Sasha, who spoke on the condition of only giving her first name, has been living in community housing in Box Hill for eight months, and said poor insulation led to her family power bills increasing by at least 25 percent compared to their last rental.
“In the summertime, it’s like an oven and in the wintertime, it doesn’t keep the heat in,” Sasha told the Eastern Melburnian. “This summer, it hit 31 degrees at 9am in the morning. In winter, I run the heating as soon as the temperature hits 15 degrees.”
The weather extremes worsened her migraines in the heat and, in the cold, respiratory issues caused by moisture and mould.
Renters and Housing Union delegate Harry Millward said while the union supported the new standards, the real test would be seeing if they were appropriately enforced.
“If you've got rights and they're not being upheld by the system, then they're not real rights,” he told the Eastern Melburnian.
Better Renting is a national organisation working with renters to secure affordable and healthy homes. Deputy director Bernadette Barrett told the Eastern Melburnian: “How standards are enforced are basically as important as the standards themselves. Currently, the onus sits with renters to report non-compliance.”
Kreunen hoped the new standards would give him more confidence to ask for things like better insulation, as he was currently fearful his landlord would prematurely end the lease.
“Eventually, over a long period of time, you begin to feel like second-class citizens,” he said. “They can always get rid of us.”
ANZ Bank told the owners of the Dorset Gardens Hotel it would consider lending them $6 million, but only if they met conditions, including increasing the number of poker machines at the venue from 97 to 105.
The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) approved the increase in March – a move slammed by anti-pokies campaigner Tim Costello.
Poker machine players lost more than $20 million at the pub last financial year, and it is expected the extra eight machines will add between $1.1 million and $1.7 million annually to those losses.
VGCCC documents viewed by the Eastern Melburnian show the hotel’s owner - DG Hotel Pty Ltd - applied in September 2025 to increase its poker machine numbers from 97 to 105 “as part of a proposed redevelopment … including an upgrade to modernise the bistro, the nightclub, the sports lounge and the function rooms, increasing the capacity of the bistro by 100 seats, and creating casual lounge areas”.
DG Hotel Pty Ltd said the proposed redevelopment was estimated to cost $6.7 million excluding GST.
The VGCCC said DG Hotel Pty Ltd included a letter from ANZ Bank “expressing the ANZ’s interest in working with DG Hotel Pty Ltd with a view to providing facilities of up to $6 million to finance the proposed capital works”.
“The ANZ letter expressed its interest in considering the loan subject to, among other things, DG Hotel Trust obtaining an increase of eight EGMs [Electronic Gaming Machines].”
Opened in 1967, the Dorset Gardens Hotel was one of the first venues in Victoria to install poker machines, in July 1992.
A world away from a corner pub, the Dorset Gardens Hotel has a seven-day-a-week bistro for 350 diners, sports lounge with capacity for 650 patrons, TAB, nightclub, drive-through bottle shop, 45 motel units and self-contained apartments and a gaming room with 97 pokies.
Hospitality entrepreneur Mario Scerri bought the hotel - which inspired a line in Australian Crawl’s 1980 hit “The Boys Light Up” - for $44 million in 2006 and transferred ownership to his brother Joseph Scerri in 2011.
Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR) chief advocate Tim Costello said the community benefit from adding eight pokies would amount to “nothing”.
“I’m always shocked when a regulator allows more pokies,” Costello told the Eastern Melburnian. “At every opportunity, we should be reducing the number of pokies. Pokies are a job destroyer.”
The VGCCC states that “minimising harm caused by gambling is central to the Commission’s functions. Reducing gambling harm experienced by patrons of gambling businesses is also a key objective of the Commission”.
According to the VGCCC, Maroondah has the capacity to soak up more poker machines. The LGA currently has 640 machines, but the maximum allowed is 759.
It said Maroondah Council was notified of the hotel’s application to increase poker machine numbers from 97 to 105, and made a submission.
The Eastern Melburnian sought the submission from Maroondah Council, however it did not respond by publication.
The VGCCC document states that Maroondah Council’s submission objected to the application, arguing the extra eight poker machines “did not align with Council’s plans, policies and strategies to promote a safe environment for gambling activities”.
The VGCCC held a public inquiry on February 2 and 3. It said the Maroondah Council “elected not to appear”.
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🎉 OUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WINTER SCHOOL HOLIDAYS FUN
Fairytale princesses and green thumb fun
Here are some of the kid-friendly events to check out across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in July.
Did we forget any? Let us know by reaching out via [email protected].
🌶️ This week, I’m rekindling my search for the spiciest dish in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
📬 If you’ve got a suggestion, please let us know via [email protected].
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Cheers,
Matthew