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When I think of gambling addicts, the images in my mind are of decrepit old men with fistfuls of slips at the races or pensioners in dated gaming rooms at soulless, suburban pubs.
I never thought for a second that I could become one… a gambling addict… at the ripe old age of eighteen.
Only six years ago I turned eighteen. I was never much of a gambler, save for footy tipping competitions with small stakes, but once I was of age this changed. It wasn’t exclusively booze that was legally at my finger tips, the bright lights of the casino beckoned.
My addiction cultivated itself from a combination of drinking, partying long hours and using the casino as a final destination in the wee hours of the morning – the 24/7 liquor license ensured we always had somewhere to keep drinking.
I’m certain I have an addictive personality which combined with binge-drinking and party fatigue would culminate in a time out at a poker machine. The first time I lost a few dollars, but each time I would go back. Sometimes the casino, sometimes the gaming rooms at pubs, always the denominations increasing. The worst nights involved visiting the ATM more than once.
Poker machines are notoriously referred to as “one armed bandits”. Their returns are not great. There is no skill involved and you have to bet big to win big – they are there to take your money. I would mostly chase my losses until finally snapping out of the daze, realising what I had done and that all of my friends had long deserted me by the neon lights of the spinning imagery.
I knew there was a problem afoot when I would lie to my friends as to my whereabouts or wander between pubs for the sole purpose of popping into a gaming room and having a punt. Even writing this makes me feel embarrassed by my anti-social behaviour. I took a while to admit to myself that what I was doing classified as addiction. Leading up to the weekend I would stand in the shower, full of shame, and drill into my head that I would not gamble that weekend. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
There is no one incident that jerked me out of the gambling spiral, but I think I woke up one day feeling anxious with guilt and decided enough was enough.
I’m not kidding myself or anyone else thinking that my form of “gambling addiction” falls on the extreme side of the line. I was a single guy, no mouths to feed, parents who supported me, no rent, and no thousand dollar losses and my livelihood intact. However, there were many Sunday afternoons that the shame and guilt of losing money the night before grew in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford these losses, at that age I had a disposable income, it was more the loss of control I felt when reflecting on the hows and whys of my actions. I see myself as a level-headed and reasonable guy, these decisions I was making were neither.
In the early stages there was a lot of confusion. Did I have a problem? Could I tell anyone? What do I do about it? No one really warned me of the dangers that gambling brings. At school the message was always “Don’t drink!”, “Safe sex!”, “Don’t do drugs!”…. nothing about gambling. You can see how easy it is to fall into the gambling trap with no support network for someone my age. Additionally, turning on the television didn’t help. Every sporting telecast openly conveys the message that gambling is OK. The commentators give live odds, the constant betting advertisements… you can’t avoid them. At the pub poker machines are readily accessible. They combine one vice, alcohol, with the lure of gambling. How have we let this happen? When did gambling become so readily mainstream and acceptable?
On May 1, GetUp! launched an awareness campaign, targeting Coles and Woolworths, to inform their customers that by shopping at the big two supermarkets you are directly supporting their continued investment into life destroying poker machines. Who would have thought that these two companies own more poker machines than the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas combined. Scary stuff.
Good on GetUp! for standing up to the supermarket duopoly in Australia. The $1 bet maximum they are proposing is a good start but in a perfect world I would have all poker machines eradicated from pubs and sporting clubs. Of course they would cry poor, “we’ll never survive”, etc. But wouldn’t this put them all on the same playing field? Take away all the poker machines and see how venues evolve to survive. Maybe they could even invest in a live music scene? Shocking, I know.
I’m no wowser. People should be able to gamble, but why can’t we limit entertainment venues to one or the other – alcohol or gambling? My gambling problem stemmed from the fact that I would start losing whilst drunk and, by the time I sobered up, the damage was done.
We are at a cross roads with poker machines in Australia. Everyone knows they are bad news, but nothing drastic has been done. Here’s hoping that GetUp! can start a discourse in this country that leads to change, starting with $1 maximum bets and an increased focus on diminishing the number of machines in venues.
Now that I’m twenty five I am heavily against the idea of gambling, even having a cheeky punt on the Melbourne Cup makes me feel uneasy. But I can’t lie and say I will never gamble again. I have faulted and I will fault again. But that is OK. I guess admitting that I had and still do have a problem is part of overcoming the problem.
For advice and help, visit Gambling Help Online or phone 1800 858 858.
Mike Nicholson is a 25 year-old freelance media graduate from Adelaide. Check out his innermost thoughts on twitter here.
As MM publisher Mia Freedman tweeted this morning: “The coalition is worried that the schoolkids bonus will be spent on gambling yet they won’t support pokie reform.”
Gambling. Your thoughts?
Comments
35 Comments so far
First of all mate well done for realising you had a problem and doing something about it. I also applaud the very valid point that you made about not being warned of the dangers of gambling. I speak to many people about the problems of gambling but our group is not allowed in schools. This is supposedly to do with the vulnerability of children. It is funny how talking to kids about sex drugs and alcohol is ok even reformed criminals speak in schools but reformed gamblers are not. These are the future problem gamblers and as people like you and I quit gambling they need others to replace that revenue, and unfortunately the young are targeted. I am holding a rally in Nov. when Woolworths are having their AGM here in Adelaide. The date is to be finalised but it will be either the 21st or 22nd. We will be demonstrating outside the Adelaide convention centre and everyone is invited to attend. Will update as soon as I have the definite date. You are not alone mate. The urge does go away eventually but it takes time. You are on the right road now though.
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Was it a joke while reading this I got pop ad about winning $250 worth of something.?
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Great Post Mike! You’ve done well to address this gambling problem earlier in life. Some people will continue gambling for the rest of their lives and allow it to consume them. This is a crying shame as people don’t realise how invaluable their life really is… If you have a gambling problem, admit that you can not gamble responsibly and stop gambling. Do all that it takes and be committed to staying away from these ghastly machines with all your might. Pokies are only for loser’s and your not a loser. God Bless!
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The evolution of sports betting as a norm in recent years has really surprised me. I’ll never forget when I went to my first NRL game to discover that next to each food outlet, was a betting agent and you could place bets all through the game.
Also betting agents sponsoring sporting games and showing odds during telecasts should be equally as banned as cigarette advertising. The law needs to catch up to this issue.
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This article made me think of my brother. He is brilliant, a genius, and as soon as he enters the workforce he will have a massive income. He has a uni 4.0 GPA but switched to part time to allow for his gambling. He hasnt admitted he has a problem and unfortunately, my father, the only one with any power in our family, destroyed our lives with his own gambling problem. My brother could be earning $100,000 p/y but instead is living off $280 p/w on jobseekers to support his gambling addiction. it makes me sick. I wouldnt even put 5c in a pokey machine. His vice is sportsbet. Particularly online.
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There is a terminology used in the gaming industry: Playing to extinction.
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I’ve never understood pokies. I find them painfull boring. I’m sure that’s got something to do with the fact that I never win a single cent. If I felt like gambling I’d much rather do it betting on something that required some sort of skill, even thought I probabl don’t HAVE that skill it’s nice to think I might actually affect the outcome. Just hitting a button over and over is not how I want to be spending a night out.
Interesting to learn about coles and woolworths pokies ownership though. I did not know that.
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Perfect Portrait
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My fathers side of the family (who are western suburbs Sydney through and through) love going to Mounties for lunch and the pokies. Thankfully I only see them once every five years or so as the place makes me want to be sick. These are the places where happiness dies. These clubs are one step above outright theft dressed up in a gaudy cover, decorated with cheap entertainment and bad food in an attempt to make them palatable. How I wish we could do away with all of these forms of ‘entertainment’.
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Great, well-written article – nice work Mike.
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Cheers for the positive feedback. It’s greatly appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the piece.
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Thanks Anon, Kysa and Sunnygirl for your frank accounts.
I’m glad you were able to share you experiences because there is clearly a broad spectrum with no specific template when it comes to addiction.
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I used to work in a country-town gaming venue (well, two actually), and it broke my heart to see families, businesses, marriages, lives, fed into the slots of the pokies, a dollar at a time.
I was even more surprised that I too, developed a gambling problem (due to a bad relationship, depression, addictive personality, exposure/desensitisation to the whole concept of losing money) that ate into my very small amount of savings and gave me considerable grief with my credit card debts. In the end, I quit my jobs and quit the pokies and I simply stay away now. I think at most I have spent $5 on pokies over 15 years now, and I am pretty happy about it.
These machines ruin lives. I would love to see the day that they are removed from all but a very limited number of venues. It is the accessibility of the machines that has made them so very destructive; and as a nation, we should be ashamed of the amount of money we have lost (not to mention all the other social costs of gambling) in comparison to other countries. They serve NO GOOD PURPOSE and from a moral perspective alone, they should be banned.
(Rant over! sorry, but I do feel very passionate about this topic!). Well written Mike.
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It is good to see such an honest article. I imagine it couldn’t have been easy to write.
My ex-husband has a gambling addiction. He refused to see it for what it was. When I tried to encourage him to stay away from the pokies, I was limiting his freedom. I didn’t want him to have any fun. Drinking contributed to his problem but he was not limited to only losing money when he was drunk.
His addiction cost us our home and our savings. He become abusive when he lost and blamed me and any one else handy. Not once did he ever take responsibility or even acknowledge that there was a problem.
Those who make comments that gamblers should be ‘savy’ enough to know they have a problem and avoid temptation have no understanding of what real addiction is.
Poker machines are a scurge on our society. The destruction they cause in the name of profit is reprehensible.
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Well done to your article and on cultivating your self-awareness and resilience.
My own partner was around 25 when he became addicted to gambling (began with pokies, then the casino, TAB, Tattslotto, online poker…). He has done a lot of hard work and counselling and is firmly on the recovery side – no gambling whatsoever, not even the work Melbourne Cup thing or a raffle ticket, for over 2 years now.
I think the image of pensioners as gamblers is a pervasive one. A couple of times I correctly guessed what venue he was at and went there to convince him to come home – I noticed that the majority of gamblers were men around 18-30 and middle-aged women. It really busted the stereotype open for me.
I feel the same way you do about wanting to eradicate pokie machines. I’m not into banning things but they just strike such a raw nerve with me and I feel utterly nauseated by them. I also find it sickening how many places have ATMs right next to the pokies.
I’m rambling, but yes. Good on GetUp and good on you for helping to broaden society’s view of gambling.
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When I was younger, pokies were not legal in Victoria. As such, tours were organized to take people over the border with NSW to gamble at Albury and the like.they were pretty popular with pensioners, perhaps given that a tour from Melbourne would take a few hours and maybe younger people were at work??
Fortunately gambling has never been a vice mine.
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Great article but again why is it the responsibility of schools to educate students about the evils of gambling? It is the parent’s role to parent their children? Schools have enough to do !
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Of course schools are stretched and parents should be doing their job. But in my experience, the dangers of three out of the big four (sex, drugs and alcohol) were constantly drilled home whilst not a peep regarding gambling.
If you’re going to educate students about the dangers of the others, why not include gambling?
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if you know its a problem for you why don’t you just not drink when you know you are going to be surrounded be such temptation? people should be responsible for there own actions instead of always blaming them on others.
in no way am i promoting gambling, but coles and woolworths are business’ out to make a quick buck,the same reason alcohol is sold at casinos/pubs etc. and as a consumer you should be savvy enough to understand that if this is a problem for you, you need to avoid the temptation. It should not be all of society who are able to enjoy responsibly, that would have to deal with an extremely paternalistic approach to the issue because some individuals do not have self control.
Better education is the key, removal and banning things only leads to less regulation and more issues.
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This is fair enough.
Also, as you can see in the article, this was basically what I did.
Realised I had a problem and what my triggers were and swiftly moved to quash it.
But I think what you have to understand is that not every one is as lucky as I am. In my personal experience, alcohol was usually involved. On a broader level, it’s not always the case. At the crux of this debate, we are talking about an addiction and I see that decreasing the amount of poker machines at ones disposal as a good way to combat this problem.
On the Coles and Woolies front, campaigns such as GetUp are a great start for awareness, but I can see what you’re saying. Coles and Woolies aren’t doing anything illegal but I feel the government should be doing more to move against their ability to own the majority of poker machines in this country (particularly when they portray themselves as family focused companies.)
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Woolies and Coles are doing everything illegal in regards to accommodating to the pokies and those that suffer with this addiction.
Isn’t it not enough that they make enough revenue with selling their product of food to the consumer…??!!! Obviously Yes! These’s money hungry corporations that make millions plus some in revenue each year are only mocking the small people and making fools out of us… Makes you think where you should be really buying your produce and maybe thinking that supporting the smaller food stalls instead of these’s larger corporations would be a better decision. Woolies and Coles don’t have your best interest at heart, it’s only that paper money you got in your wallet that they want…. Think about it.. If you owned a big corporation such as Woolie’s and Cole’s and you knew how detrimental pokies were to one’s health would you still be a large distributing market catering to the masses with this addiction…??? Of course not! They are an abomination and we should all boycott the pokies…
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This story reflects my own without the addition of alcohol…
I have learnt (I hope) to not go too far… though I still enjoy a visit to the casino.
You don’t seem to understand the problem…
Poker machines are designed, not to take as much money as possible, but to be as addictive as possible. Alcohol (while I believe no positives come from it either) is not simply there to cause damage. Poker machines are a disgusting, crushing, machine that wrecks lives and gives nothing but empty hope back.
Do you blame the cigarette smoker who started in the 40s for their addiction when they were non the wiser… or do we try to restrict smokes… adding packing meant to disgust… increasing the cost through taxes to cover the impact to the health system.
It is not just about education… some things in this world should never have been invented… and certainly their pursuit of perfection (is there a better money making machine than the pokies) should have been banned and abondanded long ago.
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Love your honesty. Thank you for saying what needed to be said.
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Very heartfelt and honest story, thanks.
I think there are a lot more people in the same boat, than the ones we hear about.
Myself and several people I know have moved to WA – no machines in this state except the one casino, which you can just get yourself banned from.
It’s not a great (or even good) solution, but it does help somewhat.
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I think the WA model shows that pubs can survive without the addition of pokies.
Hey, here’s a crazy idea, maybe they can even invest in a live music scene?
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I’m in Perth, and was shocked when I visited Melbourne to see pokies at the back of the cafe we had breakfast. Why is this allowed? I found it disruptive to my morning and a disheartening introduction to city.
Clubs could definitly learn from the WA model. As part of a sporting club (and my husband is the treasurer) I know its possible to easily survive without pokies income.
Thanks for sharing Mike…and you’re welcome to WA anytime.
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There are “cafes” in Adelaide that are solely pokies venues that happen to serve coffee. It’s disgusting that they were even granted licenses for the machines.
I can’t understand why sporting clubs would want to make money off their supporters by ruining their lives. Let’s be honest, it’s not like the majority of the money is coming from recreational gamblers without an addiction.
Thanks for your feedback. Appreciate it.
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We had much more live entertainment before pokies were introduced in Victoria…..
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This is my point exactly. Before pokies there was life at pubs.
Live music has never really recovered from the installation of pokies in the majority of venues which is a damn shame.
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Great article Mike. I had more than a passing infatuation with the pokies during my late teens and very early 20s. One evening in particular was the wake-up call when I put everything I had on me into the slots and had to walk 2 hours home because I couldn’t afford the bus.
And I was ‘smart’ enough to know better…
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Thanks for the kind words.
I’m just glad I realised there was something not quite right with what I was doing before it was too late.
Surely there are a lot of young people out there who may not realise they have a problem and don’t get the wake up call soon enough.
I’m pretty happy with the work GetUp! and Nick Xenophon are doing too.
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I love that three of the pubs I’m most likely to frequent locally DON’T have pokies, and they are better destinations for a day or night out because of it. They are not totally gambling free, having TAB totes in the public bars, but it’s a whole lot better than the pokies dens.
I have relatives who are notorious pokies addicts (I have no idea how bad), because of this, all family functions are held at my local venues who don’t have the pokies to ensure that these family members socialise with their family and not with the pokies. They are insidious things that should have stayed north of the border!! (I’m in Victoria)
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Good work on supporting pubs that don’t rely on the addition of pokies.
I try to do the same.
In South Australia, it is hard pressed to find local pubs that don’t have pokies and the ones that do are hard to distinguish from one another.
The sooner we move towards getting rid of these horrible machines, the better.
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How much are coalition MP’s spending on pokies? I daresay they will reply “nothing”. Then why, FFS, do they think that Mums and Dads will be spending every government bonus on the pokies? These remarks show such contempt for the voter.
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My aunt gambled away the family home, her car, her kids trust funds, everything. Everything she and my uncle had worked for. Over $500,000.
I won’t go near a pokie, I don’t bet on the horses, I won’t even buy scratchies. That may seem extreme, but seeing my aunt and uncle go from a beautiful five bedroom house they owned to a tiny housing commission house was just awful. I never, ever want to be in that position.
Good on you Mike for recovering from your addiction, I wish you all the best.
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