Game you never win

YOU think you know somebody and then you learn a little more.

We were co-presenting at a local facility and then he briefly bared his soul. He was a problem gambler, he shared. It was the poker machines that were literally his poison. They had taken so much from him.

He had arrived at a point where he had no house, no superannuation, relationships damaged with nowhere to turn.

A wise man said to me once that we cannot be defined by our human frailties and it is certainly true in this instance.

This friend is an educator, a community builder, an advocate. Somebody who has positively impacted on thousands of lives in our community. And yet here was this cross that he hard borne largely in secret.

I know the big end of town will be quick to say that only a minority of people who play the pokies are probthat lem gamblers.

They will argue that they keep pubs and clubs open. That they give muchneeded funds to local charities etc. etc.

But they also wreck lives. They are reverse Robin Hoods. Taking from the poor and giving to the rich. They also can have devastating effects on rural communities.

In the recent Tasmanian election that radical outfit the Country Women’s Association joined the call to ban pokies in clubs and pubs.

Problem gamblers lose relationships, employment, housing, identity and in some cases take their own lives.

The CWA in Tasmania lost and in a year’s time we will find out just how much money the Poker Machine Lobby threw at that election.

No political party on the mainland will go near this. Tasmania has more Pokies than Italy, India and the Netherlands combined. That’s according to a recent paper by the Australian Institute. Don’t ask me why but twice a week for ten minutes I listen to the BBC World Business Report.

On January 15 this year there was a report on the global increase in gambling addiction. The country with the most poker machines in pubs and clubs per head of population in the world is … you guessed it – Australia.

‘‘ THE FLASHING LIGHTS AND SEDUCTIVE SOUNDS GO OFF WHEN YOU HAVE HAD A ‘NEAR MISS’ SO YOUR BRAIN TELLS YOU IT IS A WIN, EVEN THOUGH IT IS A LOSS. THE RANDOM REWARD BEHAVIOUR CAN KEEP THE PLAYER MESMERISED AS YOU ARE ALWAYS, ‘ONE PRESS AWAY FROM A JACKPOT’.

Most nations follow the state of Western Australia and confine their poker machines to casinos. I don’t hear any noise about clubs and pubs struggling over in the West due to a lack of pokies.

There was close to $5.5 million in metred wins in Toowoomba clubs and pubs in January this year with the figure beating $6 million in December. We have 1592 pokies or Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) in our city.

The experts tell us that the reason they are so addictive is that they provide the user with a “random reward”.

Famous American psychologist BF Skinner demonstrated the addictive nature of random rewards and linked them with slot machines (aka pokies). The flashing lights and seductive sounds go off when you have had a “near miss” so your brain tells you it is a win, even though it is a loss. The random reward behaviour can keep the player mesmerised as you are always, “one press away from a jackpot”.

Online sports betting is now the fastest growing form of gambling in Australia. You don’t have to go to a pub or a club to place a bet. It can come right to you through your smart phone. It is all around you. If you love sport the odds now form part of the commentary.

In footballs various codes your favourite player will wear a betting company’s brand on his or her jersey.

I have witnessed the grooming of the young under my own roof. Want to watch the US-based NBA basketball and don’t have cable TV? NO problem. Simply open an account with an online betting company and the streaming service is all yours, with the odd little offer to wager something as you view.

They call it a game. But it is one you will never really win.