I firmly believe poker machines should be made illegal.
You kindly asked me to write something on gaming machine gambling and I resolved to put down my thoughts on the issue of children’s facilities at gaming venues. I was the chairman of a gambling education charity and have spoken at many schools on the topic of gambling. I would be strongly against children’s play rooms at facilities, particularly where the children had a view of the gaming floor.
My first point regarding children’s facilities is that these are not likely to be normal children who are placed in them. Many of these children will be at risk because their mothers are problem gamblers using the machines in an attempt to self-treat underlying psychological issues. These children have a very tough time of it. In the case of one USA study (Durand Jacobs), the level of acknowledged attempts to commit suicide by children who described one or both parents as problem gamblers was twice that of their classmates. And even eight-year-olds can make suicide plans (Kalsched). When the mother wins she gives them gifts and when she loses she, in Gabriela Byrne’s words, rips their heads off if they ask for a thirty cent ice cream. These mood swings are very scary for the child. I suppose if these facilities are to be provided they should only be open at dinner time when the husband and wife can both be at the facility or at lunch time when the mother may be meeting with friends.
Where the wife takes the child to a pokies venue unknown to her husband, the child is forced to become an accomplice in the deception against its father. This can be distressing for the child; it also teaches the child deception at a young age.
Another important issue is that gambling, unlike alcohol or drugs, can be indulged in vicariously, from a distance. There is every risk the children of the problem gambler will gamble vicariously – take an interest in the play to see whether mummy is winning or losing and hoping she will win so she will be happy and buy them treats. It is true that children attend race meetings but only about 2% of those who attend Gamblers Help are racetrack gamblers whereas 96% of women who attend Gamblers Help play pokies.
These machines also use very powerful symbolism which is attractive to children. Unicorns, dragons and hearts. They have a playful, childlike atmosphere which would appeal to children, particularly children who are under stress.
Also, it is notorious that problem gamblers tend to be those who started early. The following are two excerpts from books by experts, one in the USA and the other in England.
“Every major study of adult compulsive gamblers reveals that the majority started gambling in late childhood or early adolescence, between eleven and fifteen. Likewise, 70% of Gamblers Anonymous members state that they can trace their gambling to childhood.” Haubrich Casperson and Van Nisben “Coping with Teen Gambling” Rosen 1993 at page 33 (USA)
“Today things are different. Opportunities for ‘action’ gambling abound for children and young people and in recent years there has been a small flood of this group to Gamblers Anonymous – they now account for about one in four new members. They are usually involved with prize machines, sophisticated versions of one-armed bandit or fruit machines which provide the experience of casino gambling, ‘action’ gambling at its most intense. … They start to get interested in the machines at the age of eight or nine. By the time they have reached 11 they are already becoming seriously involved. … At 13 they are probably stealing from their parents and friends. … by the time they are 16 they have probably already been in trouble with the police.” Gordon Moody MBE “Quit Compulsive Gambling” Thorsons 1990 at pages 109 and 110 (UK).
