But will changing the board change how the business operates?
More importantly, can the board change the business model and still have a business?
Whether it’s a business model that is morally acceptable is the more difficult question?
The level of community acceptance of all the forms of media promotion and marketing - from pokies to getting bonus bets if your favourite footy player is taken off at half time - suggests it’s all ok just as it is? Wouldn’t be great to have that big win, and be able to swank around in the high rollers rooms. At least until it was all gone again!
How would the $1.8B be better spent? By the families and individuals who would benefit from the reforms spending to improving their personal financial and life choices outcomes, or …
If it’s really $1.8B it would seem well worth the reform. And if it’s not, have ClubsNSW really anything to complain about?
I like a lot of Russell Brand’s views (not all but a lot). The following YouTube video is quite interesting to me about Gambling addiction. I hope you find it interesting as well (links are US and UK but shouldn’t make it less relevant).
A local we know well is a retired bookie (horse racing). I asked him if he ever bets on the horses
or partake in other forms of gambling, and his response was…
don’t be stupid, this is the easiest way to lose money as the odds are stacked against you.
A good advertisement of why not to gamble.
He is also scathing on online gambling as it has exacerbated addition as one can gamble at any time without any effort. Before online gambling, one had to make a conscious decision to go out somewhere to gamble.
Many would say that is not such a chore. The so called not for profit sporting clubs our politicians love to laude make it all so worthwhile? There are minor exceptions.
The Sporting Clubs Business is certainly two faced. More so in this latest example. The business justifies taking wealth from gamblers as good for local sport and employment, in addition to keeping the proceeds of crime.
In the world of the every day consumer purchase an item that turns out to be stolen. You lose!
If you are a Sporting Club Business and the funds you receive have been stolen. They are the clubs and members to keep, and the highly paid management of the clubs keep their jobs?
Is that a fair moral price for community based organisations when they accept their ill gotten funds?
The former bookkeeper at a local business is now enjoying free board and accomodation after stealing millions from the business and “donating” it to the local casino.
For the truly addicted having to go to a gambling venue is probably not such a chore as it is part of their life.
For those who are still in the fight staying away from venues where their yen can be fed is a valid strategy to reduce, if not eliminate, losses.
We see from their advertising campaigns that online gambling providers would dearly love to normalise not just using your phone at social events but having their app loaded and running all day so that the young men can bond over their losses in between beers.
The beer in hand while gambling remotely (like at clubs) is no coincidence, it helps the group pressure to encourage participation and reduces good judgement - just what the purveyors of this innocent pleasure want.
“Relationships Australia WA Executive Director Michael Sheeehan”
Coincidentally, a person with the same last name, who was a neighbour of my wife’s sister when they lived in Cairns, commited suicide when he had blown all their money on gambling, leaving behind his wife and small kids.
