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In Week 3 of Gamble Aware Month we raise awareness of the harmful effects of poker machine gambling on the Tasmanian community.
Poker machines currently cause the most gambling harm to the Tasmanian community.
Anglicare Tasmania has welcomed the announcement by the Tasmanian Government that our State will move to cashless gaming with mandatory pre-commitment by December 2024.
On Friday 22nd September we release a new report about the benefits we can expect from this cashless gaming system called, ‘The poker machine card. Simple as.’
This report looks at the universal player card gambling system for poker machines that the Tasmanian Government has committed to implementing by December 2024.
Drawing on the experiences of Anglicare Gamblers Help workers and clients, this report explains shows how the card will reduce the significant harm from poker machines.
The report explains:
In Tasmania the odds of winning a prize on a poker machine (also known as an Electronic Gaming Machine) can be up to – but not more than – 7 million to one.
For example, on a machine with five reels, where two reels have 50 stop combinations each, two reels have 15 stop combinations each, and one reel has 10 stop combinations.
Imagine that many grains of sand on a beach. The chance of you winning the jackpot is the same as randomly picking up one ‘winning’ grain of sand from that beach.
For more information on your odds of winning visit the Know Your Odds website.
David retired from a career as a respected professional to enjoy a comfortable retirement on the superannuation earned during his working life. He was delighted to reconnect with Helen, who he had known many years ago, and their relationship brightened his hopes for his later years.
David soon found out that Helen had a bit of a gambling problem and he assisted her out of a tight spot financially. However, she had got help and sorted herself out so they continued to plan for a future together.
They moved to Tasmania and bought a house outright. With no mortgage, they settled down to enjoy a carefree retirement.
However, Helen had a gambling addiction involving poker machines. She funded it with money intended for bills and by forging David’s signature to fraudulently mortgage their home. Helen hid this from David by telling the neighbours and local business people that he was developing dementia and so they should only deal with her.
David first became aware of the problem when bailiffs came to repossess his home. Although it should have been possible to establish that David was the victim of fraud, he had no money to pay a lawyer and Helen had disappeared.
David lost his home, his retirement savings, his dream of a life partner and his reputation in the community. He is now living off the age pension in rented accommodation and is painstakingly repaying the debts run up by Helen. He feels deeply distressed and anxious. The extreme stress he is experiencing is likely to impact his physical health and he is less able to afford quality health care. He has withdrawn from social involvement in his community and plans to move interstate once he has repaid Helen’s debts.
The ‘What’s the Real Cost?’ report was published by our Social Action and Research Centre in October 2022.
It explores the real cost of gambling in Tasmania, drawing on data from Anglicare Tasmania’s services and real life case studies.
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