Do we need one, should we care what some do with their money.
Yes we need one, yes we should and must care.
I refuse to use them.
Have but very limited and I thank two addicted to them, who could not afford to be for that.
Sydney 17 years of age after a very hard days work my Foreman took me to a club.
I had never seen them before but watched him put his wages in to one.
I won, quite a lot may have become addicted.
I continued to give him, as a gift, my winnings.
He sweat on brow continued pulling that handle like his life depended on it.
Yes we neede to enforce limits on some.

I do not intend that I get overly involved in the politics side of this debate.
Not to say others should not.
In other threads I have pointed out my growing belief we need consensus on issues not fixed ranting.
I have twice seen the very bad side of this gambling issue right at my side.
It was near twenty years after my introduction to poker machines that I played them again.
I had worked along side a good much older man.
He told me of his once duty every morning to set the percentage the club he had lead received from porker machines
It was 17% 17 coins in every hundred never came back .
And I learned much of life from that man, I was well into gambling by then but he told me some clubs, then a long time ago,put returns of much less just by turning a nob.
Handles had gone by my return , a very close mate asked me to have a beer at a near by club.
Far from home I was unaware he had lost a fortune there.
We played and lost, he borrowed and lost, barmaids looked very concerned .
Extremely so.
I slipped in to the next bar, he could not see me ,and asked the same woman what is going on??
She told me a story few knew, he was one of about 15 who lost thousands.
That small sea side bowling club never told any one to stop playing.
should they?
Elderly women, spend dead husbands super in desperation day after day.
Is that ok??

Many of these clubs are simply a front for pokies, as they to are addicted to them.

They, the clubs, have become so dependent on the pokies that they would simply fail without them, this is why they are fighting so hard to stop these proposed changes.

Surely.common sense suggests that if one can loose as much as $1200 in just one hour, then we have a major problem.

Two things come to mind.

Limit the amount one can loose, and stop welfare money being wasted in these, and any other form of gambling.

These pubs and clubs are one contributer to the failing retail sector, as people simply can't spend money twice.

I am all for limiting the losses, provided it doesn't effect the (non problem) gambler.

Sadly though, this is yet another case of the small minority being given the majority of attention.

Belly I don't use them either (once in Vegas). The whole set-up does not trigger any sense of fun for me.

I don't know the legislation well enough to comment beyond what I've heard from the protagonists but I get the impression that the general thrust is that everyone who might wish to use a poker machine will have to go through some kind of registration process based on the idea that it will let problem gamblers set limit's away from the machines. Meanwhile many other forms of gambling won't be regulated in the same way.

Seemingly a small likely hood of gains for problem gamblers and their families with the potential that a lot of non-problem poker machine users won't bother due to the red tape involved so a significant hit for the clubs who use the income.

I'm generally opposed to government regulating the bulk of the population because of the actions of a minority unless the likely benefits are really clear (and I still have reservations). As an approach to government to leads to ever more regulation of those who do quite well at managing their own lives, generally poor outcomes for those who don't and in my view an increased proportion of the latter.

Still thinking about it but my impression at this point is very limited gains in exchange for yet another intrusion of the nanny state into the lives of consenting adults.

R0bert

Here in WA, pokies are banned (except for Burswood Casino) they always have been....so it's just one less problem for society to deal with. It doesn't feel like we're missing out or living in a nanny state because we've never had them.

The reality is that the availability of such devices are a temptation and a tool for the exploitation of those who typically can least afford to play them.

Maybe we should have "plain packaging" for pokies as proposed for cigarettes - drab, plain olive boxes without all the flashing lights and musical tones with a few basic buttons and a display showing how much you have won or lost.

I remember when the Clubs whined about how it was going to be the end of them when pokies were allowed into pubs and then again when smoking was banned.

Suggest they lose their generous tax concession for being "non-profit organisations" and let's see how quickly they change their tune.