It’s time to get rid of cigarette vending machines

Even though cigarette vending machines sell cancer causing cigarettes, generate little sales for venues and are a low priority to their business, owners are in no hurry to get rid of them.

That’s according to new research conducted with over 250 owners and managers of alcohol-licensed venues across NSW. 

Despite their pitfalls however, they continue to be a mainstay at venues.  

Which begs the question – why do venues continue to cling to cigarette vending machines? 

Cigarettes at our fingertips

Vending machines that sell cigarettes in alcohol-licensed venues offer their product with the simple click of a button. This simplicity intensifies the constant temptation of smoking, faced everyday by many vulnerable Australians.

Just as vending machines make it easy to indulge in a packet of chips during a lunch break, they make it just as easy for patrons to smoke. 

Research shows that people who drink alcohol are more likely to smoke, with drinking in a social setting increasing the amount of tobacco use.  

It’s also been found that alcohol consumption in social settings increases the likelihood of smoking for people who only use tobacco occasionally or have quit smoking altogether. 

Cigarette vending machines make this worse by increasing the already high likelihood of smoking.  

Since venues seem to have no intention of getting rid of tobacco vending machines, we’re calling on the government to help eliminate smoking temptation for Australians. 

Urgent need for legislative reform

A cigarette vending machine in a licensed venue triggers a similar impulse to picking up a chocolate bar at a supermarket checkout – it prompts a desire that may not have even been present in the first place.  

According to Alecia Brooks from Cancer Council, a simple policy of ending tobacco sales through vending machines will help prevent this impulse purchasing. 

Dr Christina Watts, Research Fellow at the Daffodil Centre and lead author on the study, says “Australia is falling behind countries such as the UK and France, where tobacco vending machines have already been outlawed.” 

“In Australia, ACT is the only jurisdiction that has prohibited tobacco vending machines, with other states and territories lagging behind”, she adds. 

Professor Suzan Burton from Western Sydney University, Chief Investigator on the study, says “Australian state and territory governments are urged to reform legislation to ensure that cigarettes cannot be sold from vending machines.” 

While recent data reveals that smoking rates in Australia have hit a new low of 8.3 percent, Professor Burton says there is still a long way to go before reaching the Government’s goal of 5 percent by 2030.  

Prohibiting tobacco vending machines is a key step that can help us achieve this goal, prevent the temptation to engage in smoking and drive down smoking rates in our community. 

For more information visit the risks of smoking

Read more information on quitting smoking. For support to quit, call the NSW Quitline on 13 78 48 or speak to a GP.