New Gambling Laws

"Won't work" has become the new black. Carbon tax? Won't work, says the Coalition. Plain cigarette packaging? Won't work, say retailers and the tobacco industry. Poker machine reforms? Won't work, says the gambling industry. No proof is required; it's enough to stare into the camera, look earnest and say forcefully, "It. Won't. Work."

The above is the first paragraph of a great piece on the drum today. I have often posted pieces on this blog by experts etc. about various topics that are currently effecting Australia. This time is similar and it's about the new gambling laws being brought in by the government. This guy is definitely an expert. Not unbiased but definitely an expert. Tom Cummings is a former problem gambler who has turned his attention to gambling reform and the industry in general.

My favourite part though is his description of the genesis of his addiction.

But something clicked inside my head the very first time I played the pokies. It was the start of years of addiction, years in which I pissed away close to $100,000 and destroyed the trust of everyone I knew. I was a poker machine addict, and no matter my intentions, I simply could not stop playing. Suicide became an option I seriously contemplated, and it took discovery, exposure and the loss of everything I had to finally force my hand and give me the ability to step away. Yet while I was playing the pokies, I wasn't gambling on anything else... and in the years since I stopped, no other form of gambling has interested me. It wasn't about the gambling; it was about the pokies and nothing more.

Tom gives a first hand account of what pokie addiction is like and how he thinks the new laws will affect pokie addiction. It is a very illuminating piece of writing and well worth a read considering the current advertising campaign from Clubs Australia.