An open letter from Hurley Hotel Group's Entertainment Manager, Jack Jericho:

We have so many performers/artists/photographers/MCs/DJs/hosts & bands that have performed for the Hurley Group over the past year.

I've been seeing commentary on social media recently about the state election, with a fair bit of misinformation flying around about the future of live entertainment.

The one thing I have seen said quite a few times by more established musos is that they remember a thriving live music scene before the introduction of poker machines to hotels, and that is the reason the live music scene is not what it used to be.

They therefore conclude that if we were to remove poker machines from hotels/clubs, the live music scene will return to the good old days as they remember it.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE.

Times have changed, and people now have many more entertainment options than they did 28 years ago.

Home theatre systems, 30+ free-to-air channels, the internet, Netflix (plus other streaming services), Facebook (plus other social media) and a whole host of other entertainment options now exist, and we all know how hard we have to fight hard to pull people to each and every gig.

You may have seen the campaign that a vote for "Mr X" or his candidates will put thousands of hotel jobs at risk.

Unfortunately this is not just a scare campaign; It is real, and it if "SA Best" gets the balance of power it will introduce policies to severely restrict poker machine revenue, and will in turn affect my ability to book musicians/bands in the future.

Last calendar year the Hurley Hotel Group spent over $1,000,000 on live entertainment.

Peter and Jenny Hurley are so passionate about live music they hired a full-time Entertainment Manager 6 years ago (me) to put South Australia’s best musos into their hotels, and we are proud of our achievement.

84% of all live music gigs are in SA hotels. More than 80% of those live music hotels have gaming machines. Hotels are actually keeping live music afloat.

Please think carefully about the impact of your vote...

Whether you vote Liberal, Labor or an independent - for the sake of the hospitality and live music industries please think about where you place your local “SA Best” candidate on the ballot paper.