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Articles on Pokies

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The poker machine industry is a business with a lot at stake – about $11 billion a year, in fact. AAP/Paul Jeffers

Is there any hope for gambling reform in a new parliament?

Polls suggest that Nick Xenophon’s team will win a bag of Senate seats. Along with a re-elected Andrew Wilkie, and the Greens, will there be enthusiasm for gambling reform in the next parliament?
Nick Xenophon and NXT candidate for the seat of Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie, at a meeting in the Adelaide Hills. Pat Hutchens/TC

Grattan on Friday: In Conversation with Nick Xenophon

The Nick Xenophon Team is to this election what the Palmer United Party was to the 2013 one. It is potentially the ‘next big new thing’ in the Senate.
According to new research, the more money people lose gambling, the greater their risk of developing gambling problems – even at relatively low levels of losses. AAP/Julian Smith

Gambling on pokies is like tobacco – no amount of it is safe

Harm minimisation policies should seek to reduce the poker machine gambling of everyone, not just problem gamblers.
How could Maurice Blackburn prove that poker machine gamblers might be misled by the ‘losses disguised as wins’ technique? AAP/Paul Jeffers

Poker machines and the law: when is a win not a win?

Law firm Maurice Blackburn that plans to use Australian consumer law to argue that poker machine operators are engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct to trick gamblers into using poker machines.
Recent changes to gambling regulation in Queensland will allow for a rapid expansion of the industry. AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Effective gambling regulation is not just ‘red tape’

The Queensland government has recently implemented changes to poker machine regulation under the banner of “red tape reduction”. Some of these are relatively minor at first glance; others have more obvious…
Crown Limited, the casino empire majority owned by James Packer, earned $490 million in profit in the last financial year – no wonder he’s laughing. AAP/Dean Lewins

Who wins from ‘Big Gambling’ in Australia?

The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Francis Markham and Martin Young explain why the deregulation of gambling in…
It is easy – and inaccurate – to suggest that Aboriginal gambling is just one more problem associated with remote Indigenous communities that needs to be fixed. Martin Young

Aboriginal gambling: a question of addiction or resource redistribution?

“Aboriginal gambling” has become something of a hot-button issue in recent years. A number of academic research articles have documented the “risk factors” for Aboriginal people that increase their likelihood…
It’s hardly surprising the Coalition would baulk at costly regulation in the gambling industry. Flickr/Marionzetta

Coalition must pre-commit to addressing problem gambling

The future of Australia’s pokies pre-commitment scheme – which enables players to set a limit on how much they’re prepared to lose – is in doubt, with Labor likely to support the Coalition’s move to repeal…
The Coalition’s policy to combat problem gambling is treatment focused, excludes potential online competitors and makes no funding commitment. What influenced its creation? AAP/Dan Peled

Coalition ‘problem gambling’ policy: putting the fox in charge of the henhouse?

The Coalition has released its policy “to help problem gamblers” under that very title. If the betting markets are any guide, the Coalition is poised to win government on September 7, so the likelihood…
Despite stated intentions otherwise, are poker machines at James Packer’s planned second Sydney casino at Barangaroo inevitable? AAP/Dean Lewins

Packer’s Barangaroo Casino and the inevitability of pokies

When is a casino not a casino? According to NSW premier Barry O’Farrell, who last week approved James Packer’s Crown Limited bid to establish Sydney’s second casino, a casino isn’t a casino without pokies…
Gambling tax reform should be a part of a gambling harm minimisation tax package.

Why tax reform can help reduce problem gambling

Gambling provides Australian state governments with an average of 7.3% of their own taxes, about $5147 million, according to ABS data for 2010-11. Victoria (10.8%) and New South Wales (8.6%) earn above…
Evidence shows most people did not gamble away their carbon tax compensation, despite media claims at the time. AAP

We got fed a line but carbon tax compo wasn’t ‘swallowed’ by pokies

Like many policy issues in Australia, the public debate and media coverage on the relationship between government payments and spending at electronic gaming machines or ‘pokies’ is sensationalist and exaggerated…

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