I have heard mention of large gambling organisations, poker machines etc in Australia. Is this correct, if so what impact do they have on people? We have all heard of Las Vegas and know that people from all over the world visit there mostly for the gambling, does this happen in Australia too? I have never heard of any particular gambling resort in Australia, although there was a whisper of some degenerate place named Wilcannia...

Sue, I read somewhere that 10% of the world's entire population of poker machines are in New South Wales, Australia. Some of our larger clubs have over 1600 machines!

I will leave any comment on the availability of the one-armed bandits to our resident expert, but in Sydney, every lowly pub has up to a dozen of the blighters.

You are confirming what I have heard, from what I was told by a former colleague of mine who used to work in that industry in Australia, the machines rake in a huge amount of money.

I ask as they are talking about allowing gambling here, this doesn't thrill me as I used to play the one-armed bandits in the pubs in the UK when I lived there and I was not well disciplined so would lose more than I intended. I was pleased to find that we have none of them here - but now we will, I will just have to stay out of pubs!

Poker machines - the industry it is huge! And so is the impact. I've heard said that New South Wales alone has 5% (oops, was typing as you replied, Ozzz, I wonder which? )of the worlds poker machines which is just outrageous as far as I'm concerned. I can't think of any 'resorts' as such that just cater for gambling as it is so easy to access. Nearly every pub and club has at least a few of themn lining the walls and even degenerate (you have no idea how close you are to the truth, Sue ) Wilcannia has about 30 machines for a population of about 300 adults and every one of them would make a huge profit and you can't get near them on a Friday night in Wilcannia as people are queueing up for them early on. This is a town where the main money source is from Social Security so for the most part people really really can't afford to waste five dollars let alone the much much larger amounts that go down the tube.

Now, quite a lot of people like a quick flutter but quite a lot of people go much further than that and get themselves into huge personal trouble over it. The machines are so easy to use, you just hit one button over and over and over and over .... you don't have to worry about pesky coins when you can put notes in the machines, even $100 notes. you're hidden away in a quiet corner of the club/pub where no one bothers you (except the bigger clubs that have drinks waiters). It has only just been brought in that clocks must be in full view of players so they don't lose track of time which is easy to do. The machines now have to have stickers prominetly displayed showing the gamblers anonymous phone number and little messages such as "gambling can ruin your life" and so on. But of course pubs and clubs will do anything to get you to play more ... one club I went to a few months ago wouldn't let photos be taken in the general area of the machines to protect the privacy of the players, even though the photos were going to be taken away from the machines and i thought was obvious they weren't gong to be used for anything other than fun.

So, what to do? The state government makes HUGE amounts of money out of this through taxes so they are reluctant to stop it wholly. I think there has been a cap put on the amount of machines allowed in the state so they have nice little organizations like the gamblers anonymous to help these people when tehy get in trouble. The irony being that they are being helped with the same money that got them into trouble in the first place.


It used to be okay when they were only in the clubs but it rocketted out of control when the pubs were allowed to have them as well. I've done it myself, had a few drinks, just going to put in a couple dollars and then there is much more put in than I could afford it really is so easy. I think if we were to have our time over again and could see what damage is done then the machines wouldn't be allowed in pubs.

Scary thought. I rarely go to the pub although we have a male colleague who is leading us astray, talks us into joining him for a drink at the end of the day - time flies then it is 7pm already! If they had a machine in there I just know I would play it.

Not if you've got a drink in both hands Sue.

We've only got the casino here in Alice rather than the pubs so it's not as bad as NSW, but when I was living in Melbourne there were numerous cases of children being left in cars for hours while their parents were inside Crown Casino.

One mother even left her baby in the car and the child died. Tragedy

The clubs in N.S.W are currently trying to stop the state government from imposing even greater taxes on their revenue derived from poker machines.Many of the clubs are argueing that the charities they support may fold if the clubs lose too much in taxes.Exit I shall be in Alice for a week from the 17th this month and shall enjoy spending some of my money in your casino btw.Just to support the local economy of course!

The clubs are the ones that at least do a fair bit with local organizations - lots of sport sponsorships and so on. The pubs don't always do this and are in it for the money. A publican once told me that poker machines have a 85% profit to them.

The other problem is that there are so many different gambling things you can do in a pub or club now. Keno (like a Bingo linked through all the clubs in the state), TAB (for horses, football ect) and even down to the chook/meat raffles on a Saturday night (honestly, Wilcannia Golf Club is a place you don't want to miss on a Saturday night ), raffles for the Christmas club, Bingo on Tuesdays. Nearly everything you do, apart from the drinking is linked to gambling in one form or another.

The Australian gaming market is enormous...as I happen to know for professional reasons. It's a peach for many gaming products etc.
As in any country, the slot machines are where you make major profit, lower staffing, and low maintenance...the software that runs the machines regulates things, sends messages to the accounting dept, to the attendants, basically takes care of itself and asked to be filled up with coins or tokens etc.
Now with the software, you have loyalty cards as well, givin giving incentives to play more and more and tracking the player's spending habits etc.
Perhaps the most enticing thing is the progressive machines...very hard to resist as the jackpot is linked electronically across several machines and even several casinos and gets higher and higher...

Perhaps the only "good" thing about this, is that with software and regulations, at least some of this money goes to taxes for the local govts....rather than as in the past, into pockets of..the wrong sort of people, shall we say?

As people love gambling in many cultures and all over the world, you might as well have slots that are regulated, payout rates posted, than having clandestine ones where the proceeds line the pockets of unsavory individuals...
Bet you can tell my bias...but it comes from rather extensive knowledge of the subject..and Oz...is quite a plum for the gaming industry...

I hate them and I can't understand why people sit on the damn things for hours and hours and hours... they're so mind numbingly boring. It would give me more pleasure cutting my lawn with toenail clippers or even cutting my toenails with lawn clippers.

15 years ago on any given Saturday night, they would pack about 50 buses full of punters from Brisbane Queensland, and drive them over the border for their pokie fix. This was deemed a great night out as it often incorporated dinner, a show, a few hundred drinks and a session on the machines. Now for the most part it’s just retirees whacking their pension into them daily. Clubs have gone from fibro sheds to sprawling neon bistros seemingly overnight, pumping free caffeine (pokie viagra) into it’s patrons and reluctantly stopping short of super-gluing their fingers on the spin button. Hey, it’s more fun than bingo and the local junior league teams can have a club logo on their sleeve and the local charity can get a new laptop. Mrs Addict might lose her house but she CAN read can’t she……

State Government IS VERY concerned about the problem (in the same way they’re concerned about MY safety when they ordered another 50 speeding cameras) and has printed another 50 A4 signs that say ‘gambling is bad’ and ‘if affected ring this 1300 number.’

The Whitlams:

And I wish I, wish I knew the right words
To blow up the pokies and drag them away
‘Cause they’re taking the food off your table
So they can say that the trains run on time

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Jillian I am surprised at you, surely we women should expect more respect than to be raffled off!

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Not to worry Sue the only woman that get raffled off are those that can cook,wash dishes and iron.

Ironing ... puts me out then. Darn.

So does this mean that some poor people in the world don't have meat raffles at the local on a Saturday night? What do you people do for fun??? Although you wouldn't believe the amount of times I've won lamb and mutton at these things. hehe

I actually won a meat tray once...I bought the ticket for "the cause"...and have to give the tray to my sister anyway...

...what are the chances of the only vegetarian in the pub winning the meat tray??

We raffle off boars and pheasants in France around Christmas time...they're hanging from the doorway and they'll put a sack on the snout of the boar...it's horrid!
You go in and play bingo and you win these things!

I haven't seen any boars as prizes this past few years..probably scared off the customers!

Boars at Christmas, eh? The boar's head used to be a highly prized Christmas dish in Olde England, so is it still a seasonal dish in France?

Haha the lamb raffle reminds me of an old scam used by husbands that liked to spend time at the pub.......The hubby was spending too much time at the local and copped hell from his wife.One night be purchased a ticket in the pubs meat raffle and won it.When he got home his wife was very pleased to see the meat tray he won and less than concerned that he was at the pub.The next time he went to the butcher first,purchased a meat tray,then went on to the hotel.Once again he took the meat tray home and told his wife that he had won it again!....I have only used this ruse once myself but it worked like a dream.