Ka Ching Pokie Nation
The documentary ‘Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation’ goes behind the technology of poker machines to expose how they are designed for addiction.The event is open to the public, with doors opening at 5.45pm for a 6.30pm start – gold coin entry.More information can be found on Hobart City Mission’s Facebook page. Ka-Ching Pokie Nation, Sydney, Australia. In this multi award-winning expose, industry insiders go on the record to explain how carefully Pokies are programmed for addiction.
Ka Ching Pokie National Anthem
John Stubley, Hobart City Mission CEO talks with Dave about Tuesday evenings screening of Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation at the Don Bosco Creative Arts Centre, Guilford Young College 5.45pm
Ka Ching Pokie Nation
The aim with Hobart City Mission’s Vision of creating a resilient community, involves kicking off a campaign in
support of removing pokies from Tasmania’s suburbs with the help of Rev. Tim Costello, Chief
Advocate for World Vision and Pokie Reform Campaigner.
Tim Costello will be joining a Q&A panel at the public screening of the exploratory documentary ‘Ka-
Ching! Pokie Nation’ on Tuesday October 10th, at the Don Bosco Creative Arts Centre, Guilford Young College. He joins Hobart City Mission CEO, John Stubley and the Social Action and Research Centre,
Anglicare Tasmanian Manager, Meg Webb on the panel to answer the public’s questions on pokies.
John Stubley, Hobart City Mission CEO says “At Hobart City Mission, our Vision is to create compassionate, resilient and connected local communities which we believe is possible through making a stronger community without pokies.
“I think it has been said quite loudly lately that we in Tasmania do not want pokies in our suburbs.”
“If we as a community, make the pledge to support our local businesses, communities and in particular
our pubs and clubs after the removal pokies, I think together we can persuade our leaders to be bold
and brave and get pokies out of our suburbs.”
The documentary ‘Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation’ goes behind the technology of poker machines to expose
how they are designed for addiction.The event is open to the public, with doors opening at 5.45pm for a 6.30pm start – gold coin entry.More information can be found on Hobart City Mission’s Facebook page.
Tim Costello will also be speaking at Hobart City Mission’s Annual General Meeting before the
screening.
Ka Ching Pokie National Geographic
Related
Australia is unashamedly a nation of gamblers. We have a public holiday for a horse race. A law against two-up is suspended every ANZAC Day. And lotto tickets are a weekly tradition.
Since 1956 Poker Machines have been legal in the State of New South Wales, supporting an entire hospitality and entertainment industry for decades. By the early 1990s they were rolled out across all Australian states, with the exception of Western Australia.
But at what cost?
ABC’s new documentary Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation delves behind a largely secretive industry to investigate whether Pokies are addictive and, indeed, fair to the player. It pushes a lot more buttons on the politics behind this $12B industry.
“Have we designed the perfect addiction machine?” narrator David Wenham asks.
Amongst the interview subjects are former Victorian govt minister Carolyn Hirsh who was in office when the Kirner government welcomed “rivers of money into state treasuries,” and Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision, who saw early personal tolls on marriages, families and an increase in crime. “I remember thinking, what is this?” he asks.
“The pokies were there on the weekend when I didn’t have the children. I wasn’t alone,” one addict confides. “But it took over everything. Before I knew it I was trapped.”
Much of the documentary looks at the science behind the showbiz. Gaming images of pyramids, Arabian horses, princes and princesses appeal to the inner child in us. Composers reveal the machine music is escapist, using major keys for wins and no sound for losses. Reinforcement is constant. Losses are cleverly disguised as wins.
US designer Mike Shackleford, known as “The Wizard of Odds” explains how pokies are built around a return percentage of 90%, with 10% to the house -but players keep playing because they are reinforced with diminishing wins.
“I know what an awful bet they are because they I design these things,” he admits.
Politics plays a big part in the Pokies industry with 5-8% of state revenue drawn from pokie addicts.
This week Peter Garrett’s comments to the doco attracted headlines after airing in preview on 7:30. There are suggestions he has retracted his comments however in the preview I viewed he said of industry representatives, “One came over to me and said, ‘We’re looking forward to supporting you.’ They handed over an envelope which I unwittingly took. I thought it might be literature or something like that. It was a cheque. I gave it back. But it was clear to me that the connection between clubs and hotels and politics was quite an intimate one.”
There is limited defence from the clubs and casinos, the doco would benefit from more.
Anthony Ball, from NSW Clubs, acknowledges problem gambling.
“We think that it’s a human problem that needs a human solution,” he explains. If he gave any suggestions they aren’t included here.
Former Independent Rob Oakeshott says the gaming lobby campaigns its arguments better than anybody, with powerful voices within our two biggest parties, plus influential power brokers such as James Packer.
Ka Ching Pokie Nationality
Peter Garrett acknowledges, “They declared war on the reforms and then they declared war on me.”
Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation, produced by Neil Lawrence and Mitzi Goldman, is impressive stuff, on par with a Four Corners investigation.
Screening to an older ABC audience it will hit a target market, many of whom will possibly be upset by its revelations. Ultimately, making more informed decisions can only be good in the long run.