More than $67 million was spent on legalised gambling in Maroondah last financial year. Dominic Ciconte and Monique Ebrington look at the economic and personal impact gambling has on the community. The moment of realisation for ‘John’ came when his concerned mother opened a letter from the bank and discovered his spiralling debt. Years of secrets and lies were finally out in the open. His gambling addiction was exposed and there was nowhere to hide.
‘‘I came home from work and Mum had left my bank statement opened on the bench,’’ said John. ‘‘I tried to lie about the debt, but I had nothing to show for all the money I had spent. The jig was up.
‘‘Although it didn’t feel like it at the time, Mum going through my mail and finding out about my personal loans was the best thing that could have happened to me. As soon as I was caught out, it was like a weight lifted from my shoulders.’’
John’s problem with gambling started when he was 26. He clearly remembers the moment he caught the gambling bug: an afternoon spent at the pub with a few friends betting on horses.
‘‘I won $300, had the time of my life and thought ‘This gambling business is easy’. Things escalated quickly. I started hanging out with big gamblers. Every bet had to be a big one. Winning anything under $1000 wasn’t enough.’’
What began as a punt on the horses turned into throwing money at everything — poker, pokies, even online betting.
After a year or two of keeping his head above water, John started falling into debt. His solution was to borrow more money and bet himself out of trouble.
‘‘I went to the bank to get a personal loan. I told them I was going on holiday and borrowed $10,000.
‘‘My plan was to use the money to get myself back in the black, but it didn’t work out that way.’’
His problem affected the way he dealt with friends and family. He said he was most ashamed about how he treated those closest to him.
‘‘My whole mood and how I treated people was defined by what kind of week I was having on the punt,’’ he said. ‘‘If I was winning, I was energetic, happy, I’d get involved in family outings and I was pleasant to be around.
‘‘If I was losing, I didn’t want to know you. I’d snap at the most minuscule things. I’d get really down on myself and life in general.’’
It’s an all-too-familiar story for gambling counsellor Suzy Adler, from Gambler’s Help Eastern.
“Inevitably gambling is going to cause financial losses,” she said. “A warning sign might be if someone is juggling money or finding it difficult to pay for bills and things other people with a similar income would be able to manage.
‘‘They can become quite depressed and quite anxious about what’s happening. At that point, I encourage people to seek help before the problem becomes too serious.”
For John, that’s advice he wishes he had received much earlier.
‘‘It’s hard to admit you have a problem because I spent four years justifying all my actions to myself,’’ he said. ‘‘I truly believed that there was nothing wrong with what I was doing.
‘‘Speak to your family. Speak to experts. Talk about your problems and you’ll find that there are plenty of people out there willing to help.’’
Psychologist Leanne Petrides has seen firsthand the distress caused by addiction to poker machines. One client told her: ‘‘I wish I could cut my hands off so I couldn’t do it.’’
Ms Petrides says pokie addicts harbour a dreadful sense of shame.
‘‘They blame themselves more. With drugs or alcohol, it’s a chemical addiction, whereas with gambling, people feel they should be able to control it.
‘‘People will talk about family breakdowns, domestic violence, alcohol and drug addictions, but problem gambling is one of the last things they’ll talk about. It’s the thing that people seem most embarrassed about, which makes it difficult to collect data.
‘‘Sometimes we get people who come in a few times to test the waters, to see if we can be trusted and if we’re non-judgemental. Once they reveal this is their problem— and it’s usually women — we learn that people are losing a lot of money. It’s a big step, but it’s a big relief for them to talk about it. They seem happy for us to refer them to a gambling help-line, or to help them self-exclude from the local venues.’’
Ms Petrides said there were several factors behind pokies’ powerful pull.
‘‘Intermittent reinforcement — such as winning on the pokies — is one of the strongest reinforcements, even stronger than negative reinforcement (punishment) and positive reinforcement (rewards). Because it’s intermittent, you never know when you’re going to win. It could come at any moment.
‘‘There’s also a kind of logic — if I stay on the same machine it will pay out, I’ll win, it’s just a matter of time. But if anyone kept a journal or a log, they would see how much it was costing them.’’
She said pokie venues were more heavily concentrated in poorer suburbs because operators are well aware that desperate people are more likely to gamble.
‘‘Some people talk about being horrified at their behaviour. They know in a rational sense it’s not good and they think they should be able to stop, but they still believe the next $1, or the next $5, could be the way to get a home or to pay back all their debts.’’
‘‘It’s not just about the money — it’s the social element. For people who are isolated or lonely, it’s a warm environment, people know your name, there’s a sense of engagement in the community.
‘‘But the fallout can be horrendous. I’ve seen people whose relationships have broken down, people who’ve been declared bankrupt, some of the stories are really distressing.’’
But there is a way back from the nightmare, she says.
‘‘It’s hard to do, it’s an addiction like anything else. But we’ve had a number of clients who have undertaken counselling, sometimes in conjunction with self-exclusion, and have come back and reported that their lives have been turned around.’’
As John can attest, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
‘‘Now I know better. I’ve found other things to fill that void in my life and my message to other gamblers out there
is that no matter how bad things get, you can turn it around.’’
If you or anyone you know is suffering from gambling addiction, phone Gambler’s Help on 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au
< h2>The numbers
• Maroondah has 770 poker machines in 10 venues, or 6.2 machines per 1000 adults.
• From January to March 2011, punters in the municipality lost $16.2 million on pokies.
• The city’s most lucrative pokies venues are Dorset Gardens Hotel ($8.3 million in 2009-10), the Manhattan Hotel ($5.7 million) and Croydon Hotel ($5.2 million).
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