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Thread: Pokies make too much money and ruin whloe areas

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    Default Pokies make too much money and ruin whloe areas

    Recent studies revealed that in Victoria we have the highest density of gambling machines accessible for everyone - in the whole world!
    When I came to AU I could neither understand why basically every damn pub had those idiotic and boring machines, nor why some people spent the whole day sitting in front of them - until the ATM a few meters away stops handing out money.
    Over the years I lost friends to the machines and watched families going down the drain.
    First the money is always too low, later there are constant fights and the kids go to school in clothes that look like a dog chewed on them.
    In the end the family breaks apart....

    I know money is everything these days and pokies give billions in revenue, for the owners, the company supllying them and of course our gouvernment.
    But I ask: Where is the responsibility gone????
    Who really needs hundreds of pokie machines covering every pub, hotel and sports venue?
    NOONE!
    Gambling helplines, ads and posters for responsible gambling - an unseless attemp to make us beleive our gouvernment cares about the problem.
    Now local businesses kick in too, claiming years after year they make less money as former regulars now spend the money on machines rather then buying goods.
    You can't help a gambler by offering a phone number to call, a gambler has no problem until he is totally alone and his paycheck in the machines two days after he got it.
    Asking at our local foodbank I was told the number of people coming for food in the last 2 weeks of a month is almost double comapred to the first two weeks.
    They did no go into details about the pokies but confirmed they know quite a few "customers" are regulars at the machines.

    This cycle needs to stop and it can only be stopped by a massive reduction in available machines.
    Also the ATM's right inside the venue need to go - there is no need for them!
    It is a shame to see that councils and the gouvernment have fixed income figures in the budget based on the money made from gambling addicts.
    But instead of actng they simply hand out more permits for new machines....
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    Poker machine addiction has always been a mystery to me. Here is a computer that is programmed to only return a set percentage of what goes in. Mathematically it is impossible to come out ahead unless you walk by a random machine and hit a jackpot. The longer you gamble the more you will lose...why on earth would anyone do that?

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    Psychology
    For most it starts by just throwing in 10 bucks to kill the time.
    The spiral starts after an unexpected win - most gambling addicts did not hoocked because they always lost
    For some reason people start to think if it worked once it will work again.
    Starting by targeting those machines that had no payout for a while or offer a high jackpot.
    Sadly for most they lose track on how much they actually feed into the machine and how much they get back.
    Sooner or later it will always turn into the red, but at that stage we already have another supplier hooked to feed the machine...
    On top of it comes the fact that most gamblers really think they do it to improve their life, it is just a few more dollars until the machine spits out the jackpot....
    But as for tobacco and alcohol: As long as the revenue for the state is big enough no gouvernment will be serious about banning them.
    We all know the dangers of the "three devils" and some of us already stopped smoking but there are only a few people that would even admit to be addicted to a machine....
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    Only idiots play them anyway.... so now we have broke idiots.

    I do find it rather amusing though, that we have laws in my area to prevent you sleeping in your car overnight in a public car park and across the road there is a room with 50 pokie machines...

    Which is doing more harm to society?

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    If there was a snooze tax to go into the revenue bucket then it would be fine. Governments are addicted to the revenue.
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    Quote Originally Posted by enf View Post
    If there was a snooze tax to go into the revenue bucket then it would be fine. Governments are addicted to the revenue.
    You're not wrong, there was talk last week of them bring in a "Camping Fee" for staying in our own State and National Parks!
    Parks that we all by Taxes for?!?!.... So we get to pay twice if we sleep there.

    Back to Gaming Machines, i think its much like the T.A.B. now in pubs.... There are really No drinkers in Pubs anymore and with Drink Driving, its even less, everyone drinks at home. I walked into our local Pub on Sunday at 12noon... Not a single person. We used the toilets, i bought 1 round of drinks and we walked out.... 1 person came in in that time... just to place a bet, have a beer and watch his horse run.

    Today, if it wasnt for another reason for patrons to come in the door, you'd never get them.

    They only ever come for Food or TAB or Pokies or a nice Beer Garden with a view, its only then they might buy a beer at the bar.

    Agreed though, the Pokie crowd are a different mind set. Its sad... i have no idea why they do it.
    And its often the ones that can least afford to do it.

    People all make life choices.... My GF's mum is a classic example, retired, stuff all money, sleeps until lunch then heads off to the pokies.
    She is always whinging about not having money... yet, she goes to the pokies.

    Stuffed if i can understand it.

    On one hand i just want to say "Fark em", we all have choices
    But on the other hand, i know they are weak of mind and its like taking candy from a baby.
    Last edited by ol' boy; 18-02-14 at 01:35 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mandc View Post
    Poker machine addiction has always been a mystery to me. Here is a computer that is programmed to only return a set percentage of what goes in. Mathematically it is impossible to come out ahead unless you walk by a random machine and hit a jackpot. The longer you gamble the more you will lose...why on earth would anyone do that?
    Unfortunately mandc the biggest percentage of poker machine players do not look at the logical side of it and as you said the longer you play a pokie for eventually the comm/percentage
    will beat you.

    You put $10 in and you receive $8.70
    then $8.70 in and you receive $6.96
    then $6.96 in and you receive $6.09
    then $6.09 in and you receive $5.22

    So four pulls and you have lost half your initial stake.


    In the 70s Australia's biggest horse punter was asked by a newspaper reporter that as you live in Tweed Heads do you play the pokies?.

    He replied that mates he drank with asked him to put a few bob thru the pokies to which he replied you do not put money thru pokies you put it in and that is where your money stays.

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    Coincidently poker machines are the are the Least taxed at 13%
    Tab approx 17%
    Keno 25%
    lotteries 33%
    Soccer pools being the worst at 50%

    So if you want to gamble you have got to be very smart or extremely lucky to be able to win gambling.

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    And your local Grocer Woolies (used to be that) own the most amount of pokies in Qld.

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    Quote Originally Posted by marty 17 View Post
    Coincidently poker machines are the are the Least taxed at 13%
    Tab approx 17%
    Keno 25%
    lotteries 33%
    Soccer pools being the worst at 50%
    Tax on turn over is one thing.... Have you looked at the Licence Fee (entitlement) for 1 Poker machine!




    I had a friend lose everything including a $170Million line of credit with the NAB over Pokie Machine Licences!
    He has since left the state and will never return. The same thing happened to anyone and any venue that had Pokie machines!
    They all got slammed with having to buy the licence or as it was now called, "Entitlement"...
    It was $150,000 per machine, cough up and pay! My friend had 8 venues and lots of machines.

    Had they left Tabcorp and Taboret alone... it would all still be running ok.

    The Baillieu government expects to receive $1.12 billion from taxes on poker machines this financial year, but it faces more than $1 billion in legal claims from Tatts and Tabcorp over the decision not to compensate them for the loss of their licences.

    Read more:
    Last edited by ol' boy; 18-02-14 at 02:22 PM.

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    Agree totally with what people are saying......but (and there is always a but)

    My local RSL club would have shut down without them. Its without a doubt their majority income source and I am sure many clubs are the same.

    I probably put $20 in maybe 2-3 times a year. But its not hard to find someone that has been affected by a problem gambler related to pokies in Victoria.

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    Quote Originally Posted by oceanboy View Post
    Tax on turn over is one thing.... Have you looked at the Licence Fee (entitlement) for 1 Poker machine!


    It was $150,000 per machine, cough up and pay! My friend had 8 venues and lots of machines.

    Had they left Tabcorp and Taboret alone... it would all still be running ok.
    8 venues with a lot of machines would have led to a fair cop to him and if he had been operating the poker machines (emptying them) for a while he should have built up a fair operating bank to cover expenses.

    Had it not been a profitable venture for operators/owners then they would have all bailed and there would be no pokies in Victoria now.

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    Yeah,all the nightspots/discos and strip clubs are all taken over by Pokies club..:'(

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    I know from other places in our world that gambling machines are often limited.
    Not only do they put a max number on them based on the population of a town, but they also limit the available machines per venue.

    The funny thing here is that as soon as it comes to making money most people only pretent to care about the problems involved.
    If you are known to be a violent drunk your local venues will simply ban you, same if you constantly use offensive language.
    But if the see you spending your paycheck withing the first 2 days of having it and you only come back once you get the next check the welcome you with a free coffee instead.
    Same when it comes to liceses and revenues.
    I simply state that if a pub or club can not survive without the money made from pokies it is definately time to close it.
    See it that way: They might make enough money with the machines but at the cost of the people they claim to care about.
    It is like stealing candy from kids...
    There is basically nothing left where you can have beer with friends without running into a TAB or being filled with gambling addicts.
    We have more cars then people but do we put a service station at every corner of our roads?
    No because it is totally unnecessary and noone would make enough money on fuel anyway....
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    I can only speak of NSW but before poker machines were introduced, the only form of LEGAL gambling other than Horse and the Greyhounds was to buy a lottery ticket and officially, YOU had to buy the ticket yourself at the Lottery Office IN Sydney.
    This was easily circumvented like everything else and you went to your local Newsagent and paid them to get the ticket for you.
    Every PUB had a Bookie of sorts who would have a 'Runner' who would be arrested when the Police (21 st Div) did their well advertised 'Raid' on the premises once or twice a year.
    During these years to get a telephone installed at home was a major event, yet one Bookie had 21 telephones all connected to the local manual exchange, and the local Police never knew.
    There were 'Sly Grog' joints and Two Up schools, the most famous was Thommo's in Sydney both the Premier and Police Commissioner of the era denied existed but ask any cabbie and they would deliver you to the door and if you won big, drive you safely away!!!
    Then the Clubs that had existed for years began to grow, most likely due to the coverage now by the newly began medium of Television and they wanted to provide entertainment and gambling is a good way to do that and raise money too.
    There were many restrictions in the beginning such as membership to that actual club and NO visitors, some like South Sydney, South Sydney Juniors the Saint George League Club had huge memberships and one became known as the Taj Mahal due to its opulence all paid for from the Poker machines, literally a license to print money.
    I dont know about Albury but the Twin Town club at Tweed Heads was right on the Queensland border and as Queensland had no clubs then, Bus loads came every day to gamble and enjoy the clubs facilities.

    People have bet on anything, 2 rain drops running down the window to a game of Two Up in the Trenches during a lull in the battle and this need to gamble seem to outweigh nearly every other thought in so many people.

    I am not a player as I dont win and I dont see any form of enjoyment watching a few reels brightly decorated spinning around and I am too bloody mean to give money to another for them to enjoy themselves at my expense.
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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    None in WA (except at our one casino) which is a real blessing.
    Plenty of other ways to do my dough, the main one being the "my horse" thread in the premium section

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    The unfortunate fact with horses is the horses that I like to follow, nearly always seem content with following other horses
    In hindsight I should have posted my Facebook status as: "I've blown the head gasket on my 1997 XR3i" rather than "I've just buggered a 14 year old escort".
    The police still haven't seen the funny side, my lap top's been confiscated and the wife has gone off to her mum's.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mkhannah View Post
    None in WA (except at our one casino) which is a real blessing.
    Plenty of other ways to do my dough, the main one being the "my horse" thread in the premium section
    Where you can exercise your "own judgement" as to the runners chances in the event frame a market and then if you consider the odds represent good value you bet (fixed odds of course).

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    .....

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    Pokies addiction is no different to me as alcohol addiction. Both give you some sort of pleasure in exchange of brains.
    But I like it......
    Prefer the booze though

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