In the 2021-22 financial year, slot machine makers Aristocrat and Ainsworth claimed $22 million and $15 million in R&D expenses respectively.Treasurer Jim Chalmers has flagged changes to the research and development tax incentive following revelations pokies companies have used it to claim large tax deductions.
Tabcorp claimed nearly $40 million in the same year, while PointsBet, BetTube and Betting Technologies Australia all claimed more than $1 million. While there are limits on what businesses can claim — market research is excluded, for example — the scope is broad and there is no public interest test. Russell Thomson, an associate professor of economics at Swinburne University, said the federal government should be "careful" about anything that would dilute this design feature.
"I'm less worried about gambling companies claiming for R&D and more worried about harm minimisation," he said. "We should be strategic … Unless we think we're going to be another Macau and make a fortune out of high rollers, there may not be an argument to give the gambling industry a tax incentive. Other prominent names at the top of the list were Andrew Forrest's Fortescue, Coles and Wesfarmers, property company Lendlease and salmon producer Tassal.