Gambling advocates 'horrified' as Queensland pokies players lose record $301 million in a month, prompting calls for reform
As the nation faces a cost of living crisis, Queensland poker machine players have doubled down on losses, feeding a record $301.8 million into electronic gambling machines (EGMs) in July.
Gambling researchers have called for urgent regulatory action to address community harm caused by EGMs, but the Queensland government said it was not looking to reduce their numbers.
The July figure equates to a loss of more than $750 for every Queensland pokies player, an amount labelled "horrifying" by former pokies addict, turned gambling reform advocate, Anna Bardsley.
"I don't believe they're a safe product for anybody," Ms Bardsley said.
"There are hundreds of thousands of us [gambling addicts] I would think. It is not a small problem, it's a hidden problem."
The Queensland government launched a four-year gambling harm minimisation plan in July last year, aiming to strengthen regulation, create a socially responsible industry and reduce gambling harm.
But in the first seven months of 2022, pokies losses in the state's pubs and clubs have risen by more than 9 per cent year-on-year — higher than the rate of inflation.
Deakin University gambling researcher Professor Samantha Thomas was scathing in her assessment of what she said had been years of government inaction in the face of overwhelming evidence that poker machines in pubs and clubs were harmful.
"Pokies are the most harmful form of gambling in Australia," she said.
"We've reached a point where there is no excuse for governments not to be intervening and doing something about this."
Professor Thomas said Australian studies showed more than 40 per cent of regular pokies users experienced some level of harm, and for these people, losses could easily be well above average.
The Queensland government acknowledged evidence presented last year to the Perth Casino Royal Commission demonstrating a link between gambling harm and the availability of pokies in community venues, but told the ABC it had no plans to reduce the number of EGMs across the state.
"There is a 44,205 cap on the number of EGMs, in hotels (19,500) and clubs (24,705). The Queensland government has no plans to change this cap," an Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) spokesperson said.
Queensland has the second highest number of poker machines in the country, eclipsed only by New South Wales which is home to more than 100,000 gaming machines.
Professor Thomas said the onus of "gamble responsibly" placed blame on the gambler, shaming those who suffer from gambling harm and forcing many to keep it under wraps.
"At the moment, we would say that EGMs in their current form are incredibly harmful for communities," she said.
"From a public health perspective, this is incredibly problematic.
"We know these products are harmful, we know that they impact on some of the most vulnerable in our communities, but we also have governments who are reluctant to do anything about it.
"That means we need to ask the question, why is that?"
Queensland budget papers show gaming machine tax returned $821 million to state coffers in 2020-21 and estimated revenue for 2021-22 to be $816 million, but more than $766 million was fed into the state's pokies from April to June, meaning the revenue was likely to be higher than expected.
Combined with the losses in July, more than $1 billion was fed into Queensland pokies in four months — this does not include losses on EGMs in casinos.
Ms Bardsley said the health and community costs of gambling were "mammoth" and eclipsed the revenue governments received.
"[There is ] the need for services for people who are being harmed by gambling – and it's not just the gambler, it's their families, it's their children, it's their parents, it's their siblings, it's the wider community," she said.
Ms Bardsley said the record gambling losses amid the inflation spike could come down to people with misplaced ideas on stress relief.
"For me, I went to the venues, and used poker machines, to handle the stress in my life, to relax. I used to tell myself, 'I deserve a break'," she said.
"We have allowed gambling to capture our culture. I think they've hijacked our pub and our club culture.
"Poker machines don't contribute anything to the community – nothing.
"The responsible gambling message is complete nonsense, because it isn't possible to interact with an addictive product responsibly.
"You wouldn't allow drug dealers to stand in pubs and say, 'Here, have this – it's fine, just take it responsibly."
The OLGR spokesperson said the state government "takes a public health approach to addressing the harm from EGM gambling".
"Shifting the language to take the onus of responsibility away from the individual is just one part of the government’s commitment to addressing stigma and to encourage help seeking."
Since lockdowns were lifted Queenslanders have been pumping more money into pokies than ever before — and up to half of those gamblers are addicted, advocates say.
Professor Thomas said focusing on harm minimisation was the wrong approach.
"What that means is that we're coming from a point where we accept that some form of harm is inevitable," she said.
She said Australia should move to a position where no harm is acceptable, by reducing accessibility and availability of the machines and implementing measures to make their use safer.
"Australia really is one of the only places in the world where we almost have mini casinos in every single local neighbourhood," Professor Thomas said.
"We know that there are people who may be incredibly vulnerable who visit these venues, see them as safe, friendly welcoming spaces.
"What we see from the research literature again and again and again is the link between gambling harm and many other health and social issues in our communities.
"Everything from criminality, homelessness, what we call energy poverty (not being able to pay essential household heating bills), family-related violence, depression."
Professor Thomas said research in Western Australia had demonstrated that limiting poker machines to casinos resulted in much lower levels of harmful gambling.
"The recent research has shown us that while more people in Western Australia engage in some form of gambling, those tend to be types of gambling we consider to be less harmful, such as lotteries," she said.
She said Australia needed to question why governments refuse to act on the issue and why they continue to use the "gamble responsibly" messaging, which "takes all the responsibility away from the industry".
The OLGR spokesperson said the Queensland government was moving to "take the onus of responsibility away from the individual" in relation to gambling harm by changing its language to rename Responsible Gambling Awareness Week in Queensland to Gambling Harm Awareness Week.
Professor Thomas said gambling researchers agreed the "gold standard" in tackling gambling harm was the WA approach and that federal intervention might be needed to remove inconsistencies across states.
"They [EGM machines] belong in casinos, they don't belong in local neighbourhoods." she said.
"Most of us would look to WA and say that is definitely the gold standard if we have an ultimate objective of preventing and reducing harm in our local communities."
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Ms Bardsley said she had not fed a cent into a poker machine in 13 years and everything in her life was better without gambling.
"It's not easy, it took me years to unpick my brain. I had to retrain it, there was this highway in my head that said, 'Go to the pokies, go to the pokies'," she said.
"Just driving past was enough to trigger that thing in my brain, and I would find myself driving in, parking and going in then thinking, 'Why am I in here? This wasn't the plan'."
"Even now, the sounds of a poker machine could sound a trigger in part of my brain.
"And I'm outraged by that. Why is that kind of a product on every street corner?"
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