There didnt really seem to be a dedicated thread on this, which is surprising, so i thought i would start one, based on this article. I am going to discuss three issues here, maybe i should start threads for all of them, see what the interest is.
http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/cr ... tures/805/
41% of all pokie revenue in australia comes from problem gambling, and people on average spend $3700 a year in the pokies.
read that again. $3700 a year!!!
personally, that is a shocking amount to me.
also on a personal note, i have always been a little bit torn on the issue of pokies. Even though i am left leaning as you guys may have noticed, i am definitely for personal freedoms, but i believe it is the governments role to provide appropriate mechanisms in place to help problem gamblers. pre-committment legislation, provided the customer could choose to up that limit as high as he wanted (which was the original legistlation allowed for) would have been a good outcome i think.
the fact that the labor government couldnt get the pre-committment legislation through the parliament was a massive failure in my eyes. I also believe they have proliferated too much - to have them in what i would say is the vast majority of pubs in australia (WA notwithstanding) is pretty crazy when you think about it.
I would be much happier if they were kept to casinos only - means that if people still want to play they can, but it is not in their face all the time. Unfortunately the genie is out of the bottle in most states in australia, so i think having a pre-committment for the high limit machines is a good idea. it was never the 1c machines that were the issue.
part of reason why i am torn on this issue is that i play a LOT of online poker, which currently sits in a legal grey area where it is illegal for any australian based operator to offer online gambling (and poker is lumped in with this), but they have ruled in the past that they dont have the jurisdiction to stop offshore sites from offering games to australians, and that a player playing these games is not illegal.
i also personally see a distinction between poker and other forms of online gambling, because poker is a skill game with a significant luck element, rather than other games where you literally never have a shot at winning in the long term.
i would perfer to see online poker separated out from the other forms of gambling, and become regulated in Australia, similar to the way sports betting is regulated.
third topic - sports betting - i like the way it is regulated, and i think that is the way forward for online poker as i mentioned above, but i think the law should be changed as to when they can advertised. things like gambling and alcohol are supposed to be enjoyed by people over 18, so i think restricting the advertising of such products to after 830, i.e when adult movies etc are allowed to be shown would be a good idea. how you solve the issue of billboards at the games etc im not sure, but im sure they have much less of an impact than samuel L jackson or tom waterhouse being on the tv every 4 seconds.