As we all know, it's a massive issue in Australia that threatened to spin out of control. I mean, The Whitlams recorded a hit single "Blow Up The Pokies" many years ago now....and it's just been getting worse and worse.
The state governments were too reliant on the taxes generated by the industry (we have more pokies per capita than any country in the world) - and the well-funded (duh) clubs and associations who developed a lot of political power derived, in part, from generating of all that revenue...were / are none too keen to see that money stop flooding in.
I think we're reaching the breaking point now, where people can't afford to ignore it any longer. If you have any experience with a pokies tavern or a land-based casino, you'll see why there has been screaming cries for the government to step in and act. The stories are too sad and depressing to describe in much detail - but I'm sure you probably know what I'm talking about.
But what the real problem is
imo...is the 13%-17% HA the government allows the manufacturers to set the machines at. 0.5% HA is brutal if you do substantial volume, 2% is ruthless, 5% is lighting money on fire, 13-17%? I don't have the adjectives to describe how insanely fast problem gamblers get 'raped' there (apology if that word is inappropriate - but it seems to best fit the situation).
I don't like to see governments regulate morality (as a general rule), but in this spot, I really have to agree. But what I'd prefer to see is much heavier taxes on the pokies, making them less like licenses to print money for the clubs and taverns and more of a tricky gamble for the club operators due to vastly lower ROI. In addition, they should enact legislation limiting the max HA for each slot to be something like 2-3%. I'm not 100% on these figures, but I remember talking to the Benowa Tavern manager one night on the Gold Coast, and I'm pretty sure he was saying the most popular machines take in up to $30,000 in a weekend. A single machine! sigh.
Also, they should force every operator to literally BILLBOARD their gaming rooms with really simple explanations of the truth about their gambling expectation. Simply putting fine print HA %'s in a hidden brochure somewhere or having some flyers lying around with "Do you have a gambling problem? Call xxxxxxx" - is simply not acceptable.
The vast majority (where 'vast' = 99.9%+) of pokies gamblers have no clean understanding of how House Advantage works. They would not be able to even comprehend the genuine brutality of a 17% HA machine.
Education is the key I think. And where education fails, restrictions and regulations like this are called for. Or higher taxes to tax the machines into extinction - i.e. they're not regulating morality, just making it harder for problem gamblers to self-destruct - and that's appropriate government intervention, in my opinion.
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