Lose your home in, well, the comfort of your home.

While you still have a home anyway.

See:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/tv-betting-gets-the-green-light/2008/02/20/1203467183330.html

SNIP

VICTORIANS will soon be able to place racing bets from home using their TVs and remote controllers, in a move that opponents say will turn living rooms into "gambling dens".

SNIP

A spokeswoman for Gaming Minister Tony Robinson said the application was approved by the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation and "meets the appropriate security and integrity requirements".

And this, presumably said with a straight face:

"(It) offers extended responsible gambling messaging and provides safeguarding of the service from possible use by minors," the spokeswoman said.

END SNIPS

Has the Victorian government gone collectively insane?

Dear Steven,

Telephone betting is already available in 100% of homes. Internet betting is available in every home that has an internet connection.
Which is over 60% of homes in Melbourne.

The TV betting service will be only available to Foxtel subscribers, which is around the 30 - 40% of homes in Melbourne and everyone who can use this service can already bet by phone or internet (so this is merely an alternative on offer).

Pin numbers are needed - and the racing channel can be locked out by subscribers to stop minors using it.

I'm not saying that I'm pro - TV betting (I'm not a gambler - unless you count my once a year flutter on the Melbourne Cup), but those that want to gamble - already have plenty of choices. Perhaps with
this alternative - kids won't have to be left in cars - in parking lots? Just a thought...

nothing wrong with the government. they are pursuing re-election as well as they can. that's their profession. you appear to think the government should be your fairy godmother, in the face of experience and logic.

political science axiom no.1: "you get the government you deserve."

Dear Demos,

I'm sure that the are people in countries around the world that would strongly disagree with you - including the United States.

I agree with Steven.It is insanity.The scourge of gamboling destroys the human spirit thus productivity.Puting aside the unhappiness of the individual,it also destroys economic productivity and means less revenue for lazy incompetent State Govts.
Just another reason to shed a tier of Govt.

I have to credit Steven with presenting us almost daily with quite interesting contemporary issues to consider and discuss.

However, as in this case, it's often an issue of 'much ado about nothing'. While I often jokingly claim that gambling is about the only vice to which I've never been captive, it's certainly a quintessentially Aussie pastime. We all know the cliches about betting on two flies climbing a wall etc.

I think this thread is fundamentally a case of another immigrant who doesn't 'get' Aussie culture yet. In my opinion, the Victorian government is simply keeping up with the times. As Foxy says, telephone and Internet gambling are currently already available to most people who'd access this new interface anyway.

I make no moral judgement about gambling, beyond saying that I hardly ever do it. However, one can argue that certain investment and business decisions are a form of gambling, as indeed is any decision made when one isn't 100% sure of the outcome ;)

Yep the govt must have gone insane. What sane govt would allow its adult citizens to make their own decisions about how to live their lives.

As someone with a problem gambler in the family, I say ban it.

This is not a matter of whether we regulate gambling or not - gambling is already regulated. (The government moderates and affects our decisions daily - that's how society works. If you don't like, go form some anarchic agricultural collective.) This is a matter of how far and what we regulate. All this particular regulation will do is allow TabCorp, Foxtel and the Vic Govt to swindle more money out of poor people by denying them some of the last responsibilities they had that prevented them from losing the house - looking after their kids, cultural attitudes. All it's doing is driving desperation indoors, so it can be practiced in private. And who cares? Tim Costello and the Salvos - the ones who will be dealing with the financial and emotional devastation that follows.

We have stricter regulations on smoking marijuana than gambling, and yet gambling is by far the more dangerous activity. I think it's totally appalling.

Sorry mate you dither about nothing, do we ban the net? you can gamble here in a second.
You can bet on the sport or races here or on the phone too.
I do often.
I am free to do as I wish with my money and while the interest rates are often bad what makes you think we all finish up liveing under a tree?
Much ado about nothing indeed.

Dear Vanilla :) "ban it" ?

good grief.. my 'intolerance meter' is bouncing of full scale deflection.

but I do agree nevertheless.

The more governments come to rely on income from such dubious sources, the harder it will be to wean them off it.

It is the nature of capitalist market driven economies to continually take the line of least resistance. Sad..but true.

If its a slow seller..'MORE SEX'

and so it goes on.

Vanilla.. just out of curiosity.. your worry is a problem gambler in the family.. My concern is the impact of XXX rated porn on indigenous communities. Do you agree to ban XXX rated porn available from the ACT also ?

BOAZ-D

"Do you agree to ban XXX rated porn available from the ACT also ?"

What's this? Can you get this from the ACT?
I know it's getting away from the subject....but I obtained (legally in the seventies) a silencer for a .22 rifle only available in the ACT.
What's going on in ACT? Do we have special reg's there do we? I never woken-up to it in that time.