Yet another scheme to fleece gamblers of their money.
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Another article regarding increased gambling during the coronavirus shutdown.
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A couple of articles which illustrate the problems caused by pokies.
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Sportsbet ordered to repay customer $150,000.
The sooner this is extended nationally the better.
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The grubs at ClubsNSW continue their disgusting treatment of whistleblower Troy Stolz.
Perhaps they should change their name to GrubsNSW.
Definitely a case of not letting the truth get in the way of a bad story.
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An article warning about the reopening of pokie venues.
200,000 pokies turning over $15 billion per annum, around $600 for every man, woman and child in Australia.
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An article which portrays why it is very smart to remain anonymous if you receive a large windfall.
Another disgusting example of the behaviour of gambling operators.
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Nothing like a gambling based business such as TAB (Tabcorp) providing you a free “gaming life coach” to help you better the gambling experience. Apologies, I think the “life coach” analogy is not quite spot on. If you read the ABC report it says:
Before long, he was given “VIP status” and assigned a personal customer service manager, who’d call him often and dish out special treatment.
“I was offered all sorts of things, events and experiences and bonus money to bet with. They had reward systems for more deposits.”
A responsible gambling Life Coach would clearly be encouraging their client with a reminder that the odds are against them ever coming out ahead.
There is plenty of public commentary suggesting the few who have consistent success have suddenly found they are no longer required as clients.
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The reason? To preserve the cash flow of the clubs.
How weird is it that around this country politicians of all flavours support this industry and many others that manifestly do harm to society and the environment for the sake of jobs.
Yet at the federal level at least having a steady base of unemployment around 5% that will never go away is called good policy.
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Another case of a person stealing millions from their employer to feed their gambling addiction.
“The former financial controller of Moriah College has been ordered to repay $7.3 million to the Sydney school, which he admitted to stealing from over more than a decade by transferring money to his personal accounts and spending much of it on poker machines.”
I suspect that he had more chance of winning his losses back than the school has of having their money repaid.
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From the article “The Labor and Liberal parties both rejected the proposal, saying it would force clubs to close.”
If the clubs are totally dependent on customers’ gambling addictions to survive, the country is better off without them.
After all, WA’s ban on pokies has not caused their clubs to close and many Qld clubs did quite nicely before pokies were ever allowed in the state.
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Another article regarding a gambler who allegedly stole some $10 million from his employer whilst the gambling operators showered him with “VIP” treatment.
Star Casino fined for allowing children to gamble and serving them alcohol.
A follow up article on this sad story.
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A lucky escape for them but not others. Does some kind of Insurance/Compensating Fund cover the losses even though incurred due to malfeasance. If they were an approved Financial Adviser I think there should be some sort of coverage available. The insurers could then seek further penalties on the offender even if only civil and not criminal.
Does anyone know if these acts are covered and if they are then what extent. If not covered what needs to be done to get the action taken to get such a scheme in place, and if needed the necessary legislation to make these offences against the fund/s made criminal if only presently civil.
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Another article regarding the disgusting behaviour and hypocrisy of gambling operators.
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The article shows us how vested interest can influence public policy and get away with it for decades. Consider three examples: the seller of illegal drugs, the seller of legal drugs (alcohol) and the seller of legal gambling (poker machine operators).
All three can be used or abused and all three can destroy individuals and their families. All three may involve addiction or dependence to a level where the sufferer is no longer in control of their life and their behaviour and may do great harm to themselves and those near them. All three are subject to government policy and laws that has been decades in the making that have in common that the problems produced by the addiction are treated as matters of individual control and responsibility, those who succumb have had a moral failure, they lack character, the problems are not treated as matters of public health. It is always the fault of the individual and never of the policy. In all three abuse runs pretty well out of control and public policy barely scratches the surface of the problem regardless of legal status.
All three are controlled by organisations that go to much trouble to maintain their profits. The first try to hide their operation from all but their clientele, the other two operations are public but in many ways their mode of influence is just as hidden.
If anybody wants to treat illegal drug abuse as a health problem they are in league with the devil. If anybody wants to control alcohol or gambling they are a wowser. They are interfering with other people’s enjoyment of two of life’s little pleasures, we have always enjoyed a cleansing ale (or ten) after a hard day of work and a little flutter (or the rent) on the pokies. The pubs and clubs do so much social good in the world and they cannot survive without almost unfettered access to alcohol and gambling revenue - we are told. The ethical peril of trading off the evil delivered by such access is always skipped over.
Another thing all three have in common is that expert opinion about them is scorned. Whether you advocate harm minimisation for opiates and cannabis, or tighter control of the product and better treatment for the addicts of booze and pokies you are an academic fool to be ignored. Why is that?
As Niccolò Machiavelli put it 500 years ago “Money to get power, power to keep the money”. Brought up to date “Lobby groups fund politicians, politicians support lobbyists’ industries.”
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An article regarding gambling losses after the COVID-19 pokie shutdowns.
I loved this absolute gem of hypocrisy.
"He said there had been a significant surge in online gaming, including greyhound betting, as poker machine players turned to alternative forms of gambling.
“The poker machine industry is a really controlled environment with limits on what you can spend and how long you can spend in a venue,” Mr Johnston said.
“We believe those people are better off in our venues than sitting at home quiet by themselves.”
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NSW looking at legislation to help protect problem gamblers.
And Australia is the world leader in gambling losses per capita.
