I Changed Out of My Nightie for This?!

Hi Scott,

I’m a 55-year-old disabled pensioner who hadn’t been clubbing in decades … but a few weeks ago I did. Guess where all the ‘cool kids’ hang out now? The pokies room. Not the dance floor or the bar — the poker machines! Rows of very, very young people feeding note after note into flashing machines. They weren’t drinking or talking, just glued to the screens. At closing time I heard teenagers told to come back tomorrow to collect winnings because the tills were closed. One said if she came back she’d “just feed it straight back in”.  When did clubbing turn into silent gambling sessions? What is the so-called Community Gambling Fund actually doing? Do parents realise this is where their kids’ pay packets are going? Who regulates this, and who fixes it? This was Hervey Bay. Have you been clubbing lately?

Jil

Hi Jil,

Jackpot!

If I asked people to pick who was the pokie player – you or the young girl saying she’d feed her winnings straight back in – most would pick you.

They’d be wrong.

If you think pokies are an old person’s vice, think again. Young people aged 18–34 are now the demographic most at risk of gambling harm in Australia.

 According to the Australian Gambling Research Centre, among young men who gamble 71% show signs of harm. For young women, it’s 55%. When it comes to poker machines, nearly nine in ten young pokie players are classified as at risk.

Nine in ten.

That’s why I have a saying with my kids every time a gambling ad comes on:

“Gambling is for losers.”

Then I make them repeat it back.

“Gambling is for losers.”

Look, Australia has the highest gambling losses per capita in the world.

We didn’t get here by accident.

We willingly addict our kids while pokies companies and sports betting lobbyists grease the palms of politicians who kill any reform that might threaten the cash flow.

You know what really gets me?

Most Aussies want it reined in. Poll after poll shows it.

Yet the truth is that politicians are the biggest winners from this misery.

And until that changes, nothing changes.