According to figures revealed by the State Government of Australia, Townsville players have bet almost AU$1.5 million on pokies in 2017. The total amount of AU$1,423,568 which local players spent on poker machines last year marked an increase in comparison to the amount spent a year earlier, with the residents of the coastal city losing approximately AU$100 million on the machines.
As revealed by the country’s State Government, in 2017 Townsville gamblers lost an overall of AU$97,195,541. In comparison, back in 2016 they lost an amount of AU$95,771,972. The findings came at a time when the Australian poker machines, also known as “pokies” have come under fire due to their addictiveness mostly because of the large amount of money spent on these machines.
Recently, poker machines have faced a massive nation-wide campaign, after being blamed for their addictive features which pushed players spend more and more money on the electronic gambling machines.
For the time being, Townsville hosts 43 gambling venues which feature a total of 2,023 poker machines. According to the data revealed by the State Government, three venues featured the largest number of pokies in the city. The Cowboys Leagues Club features 298 machines, Townsville RSL hosts 280 and Borthers Leagues Club offers 247.
Increased Spending on Poker Machines
The results announced in the Government’s report were commented by the operations manager of the Salvation Army’s recovery services Gerard Burne. According to Mr. Burne, poker machines were the ones that causes the most serious problems in society, including problem gambling and spreading addictions, which on their turn lead to anxiety and depression. In addition, he shared that pokies’ turnover is much bigger than the one accumulated by other forms of gambling.
A few months ago, the Salvation Army raised a red flag about the harms that poker machines could cause to society, and revealed that poorer people spend more money on gambling activities. According to Mr. Burne, electronic gaming terminals had much broader impact on society, as more and more family members of gambling addicts have been turning to welfare organisations asking for help. As the operation manager of the Salvation Army’s recovery services revealed some families of problem gamblers fully relied on social welfare to survive.
Back in October, The Salvation Army revealed some information, according to which people in financial crisis who had asked for help and revealed their gambling expenditures in the 2016/2017 period, were spending more than 8% of their income on betting. As mentioned above, more vulnerable Australian players were more likely to stuck in larger debts in comparison to other residents.
Now, Mr. Burne further explained that gambling addictions and increased spending on poker machines affected people’s jobs and personal lives, with some players getting engaged in criminal activity to fund gambling, such as fraud and stealing.
- Author
Daniel Williams
