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Some real australiana here. To paint the picture for those who aren't familiar, the industry is enormous and, in NSW in particular, extremely powerful. For a
by jddj 2y ago
Some real australiana here.
To paint the picture for those who aren't familiar, the industry is enormous and, in NSW in particular, extremely powerful.
For a while (still? Not sure) in Brisbane, for example, you couldn't enter a bar after 1:30am unless it was a casino.
In NSW the sports clubs, of which there is one in every midsized town, have busses which circulate the retirement communities and bring the elderly to the poker machines for the day then drop them home again, broke. The busiest day is pension day.
Most small pubs have a larger and busier poker machine area than bar/beer garden area. Large "sports clubs" dedicate entire floors.
Australians lose the most money per capita to gambling by a significant margin.[1]
[1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/552821/gambling-losses-per-adult-by-country-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/552821/gambling-losses-p...
- awesomeMilou 2y agoI'm not even Australian, but thanks to friendlygeordies, even I know gambling in AUS is a cartel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WDK5PByQgM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WDK5PByQgM
- onychomys 2y agoI'm not even Australian, but thanks to Wake In Fright, even I know gambling in AUS is something guaranteed to strip you of your civility and turn you into an outback maniac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mh7qZq0f_w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mh7qZq0f_w
- satori99 2y agoNSW is home to the largest number of gambling machines anywhere outside of Nevada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_in_Australia#New_South_Wales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_in_Australia#New_Sout...
- richardw 2y agoRecent immigrant to Australia here. Love the place, but the power of the gambling industry is alarming. Very interesting episode on the link with sports, and increasing earnings: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2023/may/10/how-australian-sports-make-money-from-gambling-full-story-podcast https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2023/may/10...
- bitwize 2y agoPoster I saw on a men's restroom wall in a restaurant in Brisbane: Fly 1: Bet you I can run up this wall faster than you. Fly 2: Bet you you cant. They say Australians will bet on two flies running up a wall. If you have a gambling problem, call this number yada yada yada. Other poster from the same restaurant: Win a trip for two to Las Vegas.
- moomin 2y agoNot Australian, married to an Aussie. I think pokies are an obscenity. And they’re everywhere, they invade as many areas of life as they can.
- VelesDude 2y agoYep, until folks see it they cannot understand the scale of these things. It isn't just Crown in Melbourne, which for most folks is more like the traditional Vegas casino. All my local RSL's/Pubs are all about 50% pokie machines. And yep, that complimentary bus is not there to bring the old folks in for a pot and parma. Funnily enough, while it isn't the most pervasive, in New Zealand is where I have seen folks that are betting the highest. The wave of depression that hits you when see a lot of people all down on their luck betting $10 a spin every few seconds is just wild! I mean, yeah the Christchurch winter is bad but not that bad!