I Hate Poker Machines

Headline in a Sydney newspaper this week: "Casino bets on al fresco gambling". Smoking regulations introduced in NSW in July last year mean that gamblers now have to go outside a premises to indulge their habit. But in an unconscionable act of greed, Star City Casino plans to create the largest gambling area for smokers in NSW, by gutting one of their harbour-front restaurants and filling it with 130 poker machines, with the aim to specifically target 18-35 year olds (yep, let's get 'em well and truly hooked while they are young and have disposable incomes).

I hate these things, these poker machines. I mean, really fucking hate them. I think they are a scourge on society and to use the words of Australian lyricist, Tim Freedman (of The Whitlams fame) "I wish they would blow up the pokies". Whilst to many people, they are a simple (dare I say mindless) form of entertainment, to millions of others, they are a highly addictive means by which to give the government more of your hard-earned via gambling taxes. For 10 straight years, gaming taxes have poured in at a rate that has exceeded Treasury's wildest dreams, rising from almost zero 15 years ago to upwards of 15per cent of state taxes today. And, let's not forget that pokie taxes are regressive, because pokie venues are concentrated near the people with the least, who not surprisingly happen to use them the most. Based on the Australian estimated resident adult population at the end of June 2005, the $15,459.7m net takings from gambling represented an expenditure of $996 per head of adult population for 2004-05

Nowadays it is the level of accessibility that exacerbates the issue. Previously, poker machines were only housed in registered clubs, which to many people were not as accessible as the corner pub. There is around 1 poker machine venue for every square kilometre of Sydney.

I have worked closely with professionals to assist people who have been affected by this addiction; those who have lost their spouses, their children, their jobs, their houses, their possessions, their life savings, and in some cases, their lives. For these people, kicking the pokies 'habit' is as difficult as kicking an alcohol or drug addiction. They spend countless hours and countless dollars in chasing the elusive 'win'. Fuck, they have better odds of being struck and killed by lightning (1 in 1.6 million) than winning the top prize on a poker machine 1 in 9,765,650). To even have a 50% chance of winning this prize playing one line a spin, would take 6.7 million button presses and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, why do they do it ? Because they are addicted; the fact that these machines are designed by psychologists to be deliberately addictive is an outrage; how these people can sleep at night is beyond me.

How the decision-making, blood-sucking leeches at Star City Casino can sleep at night is something else again.

As for the fucking government, will they step up and legislate to stop this disease spreading further ?? No fucking way, when gambling taxes accounted for a significant proportion of total state and territory taxes in 2004-05, particularly in South Australia (14.0%), the Northern Territory (15.1%) and Victoria (13.1%).

I have to be content with my heartfelt belief that karma will see this right.