Poker Machines
Pokies
shame
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As
early as 2002, NSW alone had around 10% of the
world's poker machines.
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This form of gambling offers pathetic payout percentages
to the player. (Around 90%)
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Over
40 cents in every pokies dollar taken has been
estimated to come from problem gamblers.
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Gamblers
lost nearly $32 billion on pokies in Victoria
between 1992 and July 2010.
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That
represents losses in Victoria alone of $5.1
million a day for over 17 years! It is now much
higher.
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The
biggest gambling addicts in Australia are revenue
hungry governments, for example pocketing over
$4 billion in gambling taxes as far back as
the 2001/02 financial year.
(Stats
from Productivity Commission report 2002)
Slot
Machines or Poker Machines, commonly known as Pokies
(and only very loosely based on the actual game
of poker), are now sadly one of the most prevalent
froms of interactive gambling in Australia. The statistics
above show the sort of menace these insidious machines
have become.
Note:
If you or someone you know is a poker machine player
please visit our page on Virtual
Poker Machines for a possible way to break
the financial grip of this habit.
Electronic
mugger waits for victim
The
addictive power of the pokies lies largely in their
escapist element, but also in their simplicity and
availability. They've spread into pubs and clubs so
most people don't have to travel far to play and you
don't need to be a rocket scientist to learn how to
use them. (Try figuring out how to play craps at a
casino without reading a rule book!)
Once lured
into the poker machine environment, gamblers are kept there
through Pavlovian conditioning by way of flashing lights,
the clinking of coins being returned and digital music played
whenever wins or special sequences occur, so that the possibility
of a big win is continually reinforced. The absence of windows
and clocks in most poker machine venues serves to create an
escapist environment where time is easily forgotten and responsibilities
fade into the background.
There
is very little Smartgambler can offer by way of advice
to pokies players, other than to try to give them
up. It would be much better for you to switch to virtually
any other form of gambling, except perhaps lotto.
The pokies have differing percentage payouts depending
on where you play them, but a realistic ball park
figure for the average percentage return is around
91%, one of the worst gambling games you can play.
The percentage may be slightly higher than this in
some cases and slightly lower in others. Casinos in
general have higher returns than clubs and if you
play
poker machines online the
payouts are generally better than those of physical
machines, probably due to lower overheads.
If
you are determined to keep playing the pokies, we
can offer some advice to help minimize your losses.
