And if you have something to say that isn’t a response to one of my posts, put it here. This page is your forum, where you can offer feedback or suggestions about the site, tell me about your own experiences, anything like that. I’ll be looking forward to reading what you have to say.
your say
While I intend to use cyenne as a forum to share my thoughts and observations with you, I’m also interested in what you have to say. I really hope we can make this a conversation of sorts and I ask you, please, if you have something to say about anything I post on this site, don’t hold back. I have set things up to ensure that I have to approve any comments before they are published, but that’s only to prevent spamming… I won’t reject a comment just because you disagree with me.
July 15th, 2010 on 6:33 pm
The machines are powerful, hypnotic devices, putting the problem gambler into a trace state (the “zone”) and using hypnotic conditioning. The machine creates multiple trance loops using tactile, auditory and visual repetition (NLP – different modalities). This creates a strong hypnotic trance and leads to the disabling of cognitive functions including the disabling of critical judgment. Within the trance state the suggestible subject is subjected to at least three hypnotic suggestions – winning statements on net losses, starved reels/near miss and archetypal symbolism. The trances comprise interlocking trance loops which are stable, unterminated and addictive.
September 2nd, 2010 on 4:28 am
Hi Thomas…what a good site this is? I share your past gambling issues, however I was addicted for well over a decade and sadly lost a lot more than you did! You did well to pull yourself away! Congrats.
I hate the fact that my hard earned money was so foolishly sent to such a bunch of corrupt, deceptive predators! Now over it all but it was hard to climb back out and like you…I asked…”Why did THAT happen?”
Clearly we need a registered record of all of our gamblers and of their spending!
That way we could give effective warning material before gamblers get addicted. We could also check the casino / pokies venue books better etc! Bet they would NOT balance! A bloody shop till is better regulated I swear it! Excluded / under-age issues could be avoided and legal cases could be less vaguely run!
The gambling license fees could be sent back to local communities…to help them to make up for local pokies / casino gambling losses!
However better still…as Linda Hancock’s recent report suggests….we need national regulation of gambling! A National Gambling License that could be used in all casinos…nationwide. Our states should NOT also regulate!
Thomas..Singapore makes all local casino gamblers pay $100SGD per single casino entry fee, or $2000SGD for a year’s entry, paid usually in 4 installments. The system deters the vulnerable / poor, it bars excluded and under-aged gamblers and also allows for family intervention and barring of their over-spending loved one from casinos, if they request that fairly.
Whilst such a scheme might appear to be too onerous upon the ‘victim’ gambler’ who pays a lot already..it is a ‘user pays’ system and it is high time that the gambler had to pay his own social costs like smokers do. At the end of the day the gamblers know what they are doing…losing…and despite addiction other taxpayers should not get lumbered with their costs!
However most importantly the system ensures that every casino gambler is known, registered (licensed) and THAT idea scares the gambling industry because for once it would be accountable, as registration brings with it the ability to also give gamblers consumer receipts and a monthly spending record.
The license card would provide the pathway for the very reforms that the gambling industry AND governments KNOW are needed!
By not getting any proof of purchase or receipt the gambler is being denied his consumer rights by law…at least in Victoria. Sec 161 9a0 of our Victorian Fair Trading Act 1999 states that all services costing over $50 MUST provide an automatic receipt! The Victorian CAV (Consumer Affairs Victoria) have ignored the anomaly now for 5 years!(our Gaming Minister is ALSO our Consumer Affairs minister…how convenient that he does not push the law to be upheld?)
Just like when we get our credit card statements and ‘slow down’ on spending…seeing our losses in black and white WOULD slow a lot of gambling spending! Hence it has been ignored but hopefully it will be picked up in our new National Consumer Laws. They should be out now and they replace state laws. That issue might be problematic if the gambling industry is exempted…so we will find it hard to win lol.
Now off my soapbox…but could you look a bit more at Singapore? It is a precedent that the world is studiously ignoring….for obvious reasons! It works!
Regards Libby Mitchell. (FB Group site Gambling Action Group)
November 4th, 2010 on 12:36 am
Warning signs, gambling machines are addictive in case your not already hooked. Maybe at the entrance a sign ‘enter at your own risk’ pokie poison spreads. Bring the family, makes me sick the breeding ground.. What about gaming hours, there been any talk about that I wonder.mmm They are just asking for trouble open till all hours. 14years I was in trance. Spot on Tim.
Convenient donations to political parties why are they getting lump some bonuses. Rigged all round accommodation to cater for everyone’s needs.
Most people in the venue are hooked & rest are at risk I don’t care what anyone says ive seen it with my own eyes for many years.
Bullshit statistics how accurate are figures when addiction is sooo hidden??? Labeled as losers to top it off. 2014?? 15YEARS of excuses by the government. Funny how things turn out isn’t it. Wonder what the next chapter will be?
April 12th, 2011 on 1:25 pm
Australia band together to show support to rid us of the evil poker machine… Join the group on Facebook “Australia Against Poker Machines” and maybe we can get things done…
April 21st, 2011 on 3:00 pm
I wish we could wind back the pokie machine disaster. if they had been restricted to the casino, that might have prevented so much suffering.
I had never gambled in my life except for the occasional Tatts ticket. Then I was prescribed a dopamine agonist for a serious medical condition. At the same time I was exposed to gaming machines through my work and went over to the local hotel one night to see what the fuss was really all about. I think I was hooked from that night on. The pharmaceutical drug I was prescribed stimulates obsessive compulsive behaviours but I didn’t know that at the time (2000). The machines really encourage and enhance the obsessive compulsive behaviours. I was lost, and thus followed the worst seven years of my life. I lost close to $400,000, all my friends and some of my family. I could not contemplate sucide but on the other hand, I lost all desire to live. At one stage I had little food and no money money and I locked myself away in my flat for three weeks. I now have little memory of that particular time.
Despite the fact that my gambling was precipitated by a prescribed medication, my experience of gambling has much in common with anyone who is in trouble with the machines. The most dangerous aspect is the ‘trance’ effect which essentially means that one cannot get away. The phenomena of craving is created and maintained by the biochemical effects of the sensory stimulation caused by the machines.
The Government may not have know that EGMs are not safe products at the time they allowed them to be introduced but they do now. They are reluctant to discuss this, however.
The clubs may need to develop new sources of finance and different business models if they are dependent on pokie machines for survival. The clubs provide services to a certain comparatively small segment of the community anyway. At what real cost?
It made me ill to read Jeff Kennett’s comments in the news this morning. I don’t really care if football becomes a small business instead of the BIG business he wants so much. Did we really need AFL teams in NSW and Qld? The questions could go on. Should the Buddy Franklins and Gary Abletts of this world be paid so much fo so little? They are simply footballers, after all, nothing more, nothing less.
I would like the lost years and the lost money back. I would like my friends back. I would like my health restored. I’m making a good life for myself now but I know many who will never recover, and whose lives have been completely diminished by the social scourge of the gambling industry. It appalls me that the clubs turn their backs on this reality, and that there is so much ignorance in the general community.
April 21st, 2011 on 4:06 pm
I should have explained that Kennett was on the news this morning saying that some AFL clubs will go broke without pokie machines to shore up their revenue.
I would say: ‘Does it really matter?’ As a community we seem to have all sense of proportion about these things. Any community activity based on the exploitation of others is not worth it. We can find other, simpler ways of having fun, supporting each other. Jeff can go and be King in his own back yead if he wants to! After Joan Kirner, it was Kennett who opened the floodgates in Victoria for pokie machines in 1992.
The safety of pokie machines is another big issue. COMPULSORY precommitment will help. The Government should look at the safety of EGMs. Australia’s machines are the most potent and dangerous in the world.
Do we really need them? We banned cheap toys from Asia to keep out kids safe. We inhibit speeding on roads to keep the community safe. Why can’t we put stricter limitations on the way the manufacture of these trance machines, otherwise known as pokies?
Better still, why not restrict them to casinos so that people really do have to make conscious decisions to go to such places and use them?
Happy Easter, all
April 22nd, 2011 on 7:07 pm
Amazing posts here Braveheart. A growing call for full banning of pokies cannot be ignored by the gambling industry and stories like yours are what we need to all hear. People are angry, feel cheated, let down, duped…all of that and it has to stop. If Wilkie’s reforms go soft then banning should be a definite agenda item…
PLease also join FB Gambling Action Group? It is for all interested citizens…all over the world, who are fighting the gambling industry.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150168696231310&id=554501309#!/group.php?gid=114657365255380
October 5th, 2011 on 5:26 pm
These stories of addiction are tragic indeed however the root cause of addiction should be addressed – whether it be to gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex or whatever the agency might be. No one seriously advocates banning alcohol as a way to eliminate dependency or cigarettes to eliminate nicotine dependency. Sowhy is banning the pokies the way to eliminate problem gambling?
Before the outraged mob come out on the attack, I have no axe to grind – personally I have never operated a poker machine and have casually assumed that the folk that do are rather sad cases with nothing better to do with their lives. I do recognise that your website is an honest and fervent attempt to solve other people’s problems – I was raised to always solve my own.
October 5th, 2011 on 10:29 pm
There are no outraged mobs here, Cedric. I don’t allow that kind of behaviour, never have. And although commenters are free to express their opinions, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything on this blog that suggests that I support banning poker machines.
I do take issue with your assumption that poker machine players are “rather sad cases with nothing better to do with their lives.” You freely admit that you’ve never player a poker machine, so it stands to reason that you have little or no idea of the mindset of either the casual player, or the addict.
I would be interested to see how you would solve your own problem if it were an addiction to poker machine gambling that left you unable to speak about it… but I wouldn’t wish it on you. Or anyone.
October 7th, 2011 on 9:34 am
Your “stands to reason” is not a corollary of my comment. I would rather pose to you how is it that anyone with any self respect could gamble away their family income and deprive innocent children of food on the table.
Kind regards
October 13th, 2011 on 4:58 pm
Cedric Byrne? One defining trait of an ‘addict’ is that the person has lost any sense of self-respect already…as result of the addiction. Your presumption that any person with self respect would not gamble their lives away loses all meaning! A person who gets to the point of gambling his life away is already addicted; that is why he does it! That is the nature of addiction. It takes away the ability to think rationally and logically. You are being unrealistic. You expect too much. Just stop the addiction from forming, could be a much better solution! Do not expect a sick addict not to act like one!
October 27th, 2011 on 9:55 pm
Tom – like you I write for The Drum, amongst some other publications. I’ve written a three part series on gambling and problem gambling. I quote you in part two. I think you’ll enjoy.
http://www.makingthenut.com/content/defence-gambling-part-1
http://www.makingthenut.com/content/defence-gambling-except-pokies-part-2
October 27th, 2011 on 11:15 pm
No worries Tim… yes, I remember you especially from your Snobs & Whingers piece (brilliant, it was). Thanks for the links, I’ll take a look
October 28th, 2011 on 11:49 am
Cheers. Your article (that i quoted) was probably the most persuasive pro-reform piece of the hundred or more i read on the topic.
October 28th, 2011 on 12:07 pm
Thanks… that’s high praise indeed
And I’ve read your articles, very good. It’s important for people to remember that gambling isn’t evil, in and of itself, and that the pokies are nothing like any other kind of gambling. A lot of people lose sight of that, and oppose gambling completely. That’s not where I’m coming from… and not what this is all about. Checks and balances, not prohibition. You make it very clear in your writing.
Looking forward to part 3.
October 31st, 2011 on 9:45 pm
Good. I didn’t want to misrepresent you with the quotes. Part 3 up.
October 31st, 2011 on 11:39 pm
No problem. Part three is excellent, as were the first two parts. One thing, I left a comment after part three (referring to the articles as a whole) but the spam filter rejected it. I tried reporting the spam filter as incorrect… but if my comment doesn’t show up, I’ll post it here instead.
November 1st, 2011 on 6:47 pm
We’ve got a real problem on the site with that. I even get blocked from writing comments. I’ll email the administrator.
November 19th, 2011 on 12:58 pm
I hope the presidents ALF or NRL or RSL or CEO’s Woolworths and Coles or gaming ministers of the states of Australia or someone in here might be able to provide an answer.
Problem gamblers lose around $5B of overall $12 B annual losses in poker machines.
Now I definitely know the staffs of all clubs, pubs and casinos empty the machines every day of all the $50, $20, $10 and $5 notes and all the coins. I also read poker machines pay out I think around 87 per cent of the losses over the life of a machine which can be 7 years or more and no one but the machine knows when these payouts might take place.
The majority of players I speak to say that they pour in the money and never ever win anything near what they put in. So where does all the cash that is poured into machines each day every day go? Yes I understand that it all gets paid out some time in the life of each machine but in the meantime and in between time where does all the cash go? Into the accounts of the clubs or pubs or casinos or governments or authorities? Into a trust account bearing NO interest as this would be the legal way of doing it as it does not belong to the pubs, clubs or casinos or govs or authorities Is the gambling public allowed to know in the interests of accountability, transparency and integrity where this money sits and how much there is accumulated and who has control of it over the years?
November 28th, 2011 on 12:29 pm
I am sure alot of people have read the news about the proposed trial for ACT with conditions from clubs such as any loss of revenue during the trial to be met by (basically) the tax payer and cost of trial to be borne by us as well. I am dead set against a trial being conducted on these terms. If a food outlet promotes food poisoning on a grand scale where customers are Suiciding,going broke and losing thier homes, does the government pass a law and pick up the tab so the outlet serves only healthy food or pay that business to install clean equipment etc. I don’t trust the industry not to Sabotage a trial in the first instance. There are other ways this trial can be conducted which I would like to discuss at a later stage.But as far as the conditions imposed by industry it is not on as far as I am concerned.
November 30th, 2011 on 12:58 pm
This is a great site to release my angst. Why is the public being made to “BAIL OUT” the clubs and casinos every year to the tune of $4.7 billion dollars. This is the social cost the community has to fork out for court and jailing, emergency food and rental, bankruptsies etc of normal decent people who have become addicted to poker machines. Over the last ten years we have year in year out BAILED OUT these parasite blood sucking shyster poker machine operators and what do we get in return from them.Just a beat up of how they give a few uniforms or manicure a bowling green.How about the gambling barons dig into thier blood soaked bank accounts and pay the $4.7 Billion that we are forced to pay for them.
December 15th, 2011 on 4:30 pm
This is public domain information so I don’t feel in any way disclosing it violates any thing. Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group Ltd ABN 37 067 391 511
PRIZE POOL ACCOUNT Westpac 341 George street ,Sydney , NSW is the account that the venue pays the cheque to a poker machine player that has won more than $1,000.I reiterate my earlier questions: How much is in that account,is it billions of dollars,does it draw interest, if so how much,who are the directors and how much is thier salaries and lurks and perks. Also a running balance of the above account for last three years in the interest and transactions going in and out for accountabilty and transparency Please.It is the poker machine gaming patrons and one and all of them has a right to know. Did any money come out of that account for lobbying ..not insinuating just questioning. Is there a reporter or friend of a reporter who reads this who could perhaps do a story on this or get the ALH Group to comment please.
December 24th, 2011 on 2:57 pm
This is a great site site.
Well written articles with good investigation and due diligence.
Kudos to you.
I (thankfully) dont have a gambling problem, but I feel companies that prey on people who do, are no different to con artists (except legal).
It will be a long road, but eventually I believe we can bring this scourge of the community under control.
Thanks
Richard
January 26th, 2012 on 4:50 am
Here’s an idea. Make gambling addiction a crime. And heavily fine establishments which allow gambling addicts into their premises. Our pubs are legally not allowed to serve alcohol to underage kids and to people who are already drunk. Classify a person who is spending more than 5% of his income on gambling as an addict and restrict him/her from going to the casino/clubs. The govt should also force gambling establishments to reveal the identity of gamblers who spend more than $5,000 a day at the casino – to help track down fraudsters, swindlers and money launderers.
In Singapore, people can place a “do not allow” order on a relative who is a compulsive gambler.