Australians lose more to gambling than anyone else in the world, but the harms of gambling aren’t evenly spread. Gambling has a devastating effects on Indigenous people, and new research from The Australia Institute shows that pokies are of particular concern.
The analysis found that if you live in an area of Australia with a high Indigenous population you’re likely to see more poker machines, and lose more money to the pokies. Areas of Australia where at least 10 per cent of the population is Indigenous have 50% more poker machines than average. People in these areas also lose over $100 more a year to the pokies ($700 per year compared to “just” $581 in other areas).
The only exception to this national pattern is Western Australia, where poker machines are limited to a single Casino. This natural experiment shows that the solution to the problem isn’t complicated: if we limited the availability of the machines, people would lose less to the pokies.
Nationwide, 3.8% of Australians are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, so these areas have twice the average Indigenous population. This means that Indigenous Australians are being disproportionately harmed by the pokies. But that also means that properly regulating poker machines would be hugely beneficial for Indigenous Australians.
1 Comment
In my youth I was a poker machine mechanic. This was before they went electronic and no longer required servicing, greasing, oiling and adjusting.
I would always tell people that the machines were set (by the card values on each reel) to relieve an average of 14 percent of the money of gamblers. Some lose more, some less.. but overall, the machine owners get fourteen percent of all that gamblers stake. I'd tell them all this, but it made no difference. They just kept pulling that handle (before there were buttons)....
It looked to me very much like an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder... i.e. a stress reliever. They get into the zone and temporarily the stress is masked by bright lights and pretty noises and the sound and smell of money.
I'm not a gambler. Working as a poker machine mechanic put paid to that. I haven't even laid a bet. I reckon I'm as rare as rocking horse poo.