Australian Capital Territory. The ACT has a total of 5,200 gaming machines all of which are located in clubs and hotels. Casino Canberra is the only casino in the ACT and does not have any gaming machines. RSL pokies in Adelaide. RSL's (Returned and Services League of Australia) are a popular place for Adelaide residents who have served in the armed forces and their friends and families to unwind and socialise. An RSL is a bit like a social club crossed with a pub, and they often offer a bar, dining, snooker, and sometimes TAB, keno, and pokies. There is no denying their popularity in Australia, and punters love their pokies at the club or pub, on their mobile phone or even on a tablet sitting on the couch. Online pokies are in many ways even more appealing that their land based counterparts. There is certainly more choice, and many more games with odds that favour the player.
- Australian Pub Pokies Pictures
- Australian Pub Pokies For Sale
- Australian Pub Pokies Videos
- Australian Pub Pokies Images
Today's pokies all pretty much depend on random number generators and tiny computer chips, a far cry from the mechanical gambling machines of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Not just any pub, but the dying breed of pubs: the PWP or pub without pokies. There's nothing sadder than strolling into the pub and hearing that faint noise of bells and cheesy muzak. It's the sound of hell, or, as most people know it, the pokies room. There is a similarity between natives of America and Australia, so Rain Dance is a popular pokie at Australian online casinos. It is from Realtime Gaming. The chief is the wild symbol that doubles payouts. You can win up to 100 free spins with up to 5x multiplier.
Classic mechanical-style pokies can still be bought and sold, usually as decorative items or for in-home entertainment. Actual machines used for gambling are electronically-powered and depend on a fairly complex computer system to determine wins and payouts.
Pokies are made up of a number of different parts. The game's cabinet houses the machine and is often the most decorative piece, displaying the name of the game and decorated with flashing light effects to attract attention.
Modern pokies use a video screen interface where the game itself is displayed. The interface also shows the payout schedule (how much a player wins depending on the symbols that line up) and can be considered the area of the machine where the game 'lives.' Almost all the interaction between player and machine happens on the interface.
Other items you'll see on a poker machine include a note or coin acceptor where the gambler inserts cash, coins, or other forms of credit with which they'll place their bets, and the coin try or payout tray where any winnings a player happens on are paid out. Jackpots that are too large to be paid out through the coin tray are paid by hand by a casino employee.
Inside a modern poker machine is where the game's complexity becomes evident. The game itself is programmed onto a motherboard similar to one you'd find in any computer or video game. This is where the program that runs the game is stored and where most of the action of the game takes place. If a player were to crack open a poker machine, they'd also find a series of meters that record all the data collected by the machine: payouts, how much money has been paid in to the game, and other data.
Updated April 26, 2020 20:17:21
The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on so many Australians.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858
- Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
Lives have been lost, jobs and businesses have been wiped out, and individuals have had to come to grips with being isolated from family and friends.
No industry has felt the strain more than pubs, clubs and casinos. From March 23, they had to close their doors at short notice, throwing the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of Australians into turmoil.
But for some Australians these closures have proved a blessing rather than a curse.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform says more than $1 billion has been saved in poker machine losses in the past five weeks.
ABC Investigations has been in contact with hundreds of people affected by problem gambling, and we asked whether coronavirus shutdowns have changed gambling habits.
Many of them have described the past five weeks as one of the most peaceful periods they can remember.
Here are three of their stories.
The mineworker
Corey* is a mineworker from Queensland. He knows too well the pain that a gambling addiction can cause.
Australian Pub Pokies Pictures
Gambling: Tell us your story
ABC Investigations wants your help to find out more about what happens behind the scenes of Australia's gambling industry; to hear from people who have worked inside the industry and those who have lost money. Fill out our tips form here.
His father lost the family home through betting on the horses when Corey was a small boy.
'All these years later, it still causes fights in my family,' he said.
'Knowing my family history, I became a staunch anti-gambler. I'd never even bet on the horses.'
The 29-year-old avoided the issues his father had. Until July last year.
'My father got diagnosed with a form of dementia and I went into a dark place. I started drinking heavily and began to play the pokies.'
The Queenslander had been working hard as a fly-in fly-out mine worker and was saving for a home.
Within two months of taking up the pokies his $25,000 deposit was gone.
'I'd wake up at 10:00am, go to a pub or club, and play the pokies, sometimes until 3:00am.'
He would repeat this pattern during his week off in the city, before flying back to a mining camp to work for two weeks.
After another two months, he sold his prized 4WD for $17,000 to feed his new habit.
Soon that cash windfall was gone. With no money in the bank, and nothing else to sell, he started borrowing money.
By the time the lockdown started Corey owed the banks and same-day lenders close to $20,000.
'COVID-19 has been a blessing for me, with pubs, clubs and casinos closed, I've been completely unable to play the pokies at all,' he said.
He's now putting aside 80 per cent of his income to pay off his loans and feels that he has his gambling under control.
'Since the lockdown started, I created an online gambling account and put $100 into it. I lost that $100 straight away, so I haven't put any money back into it since,' Corey said.
'I'm hoping this is the end of my eight-month gambling habit. It's cost me so much, from my health and happiness, to pushing away friends for the sake of gambling — it's really impacted me on every level and set me way back financially.'
Find out more
The mother
For Sonia, the 58-year-old mother of a pokies addict, the lockdown has been one of the best months of her life.
'It has been a blessing for me and my son because he's suddenly not being tricked, deceived and robbed by the poker machines,' she said.
Sonia's son John* has twice attempted suicide in relation to his gambling addiction.
'We are both experiencing a peace we haven't experienced for over a decade. I'm able to live each day without the constant fear that my son will try to take his life again.'
'He told me that God's answered his prayers with the lockdown, that a heavy weight has been lifted off him and that he feels like he has been set free.'
The 28-year-old has MS and is on disability pension. Sonia says at around 2:00am on a Saturday he goes to a local Sydney pub or club knowing his pension will be in his bank account by then.
'By the time the sun comes up he's lucky if there's anything left in his account,' Sonia said.
Once John blows all his money, Sonia has to make the most awful choice. Does she give him more money to help him get through the week knowing he will probably put it through the pokies?
Invariably she gives in.
'People ask why I give him money. It's because I'm scared that he might commit a crime to pay for his habit,' she said.
'You have to realise the habit overrules normal thinking. Do you know how many people are in jail because of a pokie addiction? I'm scared he could end up in jail.'
Sonia says she's on the verge of losing her house and has borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from the banks and from family to pay for her son's habit.
She says John has self-excluded from hundreds of venues, but they continue to let him in to gamble away his pension and his mother's money.
Sonia says she has used the lockdown to pay back money she's borrowed.
'In the past five weeks I haven't had to give him money. But it's so much more than the money, it's the emotional rollercoaster as well.'
Australia has the highest gambling losses per head of population in the world. Sonia hopes the lockdown will lead to a rethink on poker machine policy.
Over the past 25 years, she has held a number of senior positions in the manufacturing industry, and says that the absence of poker machines is not just good for the families of addicts, but for small business as well.
'Over $6.5 billion is lost to poker machines each year in NSW alone. If this money was spent in small business the economy would thrive and many jobs would be generated.'
Do you know more?
Please fill out the ABC Investigations gambling story tips form, or text message the team via the WhatsApp or Signal mobile apps on 0418 347 462.The small businessman
Andrew runs a small business in rural Queensland.
Much of his work is done on the road, and when he drives into a new town, he finds it difficult not to pass the local pub.
'If I'm driving for work, something in me gets triggered and I will drop into the pub and start putting money through the pokies,' he said.
The businessman finds himself being drawn to something he hates.
Australian Pub Pokies For Sale
'I can't stand the pokies. But I started playing them 20 years ago when I was struggling with anxiety.'
Andrew suffered trauma as a child that led to anxiety in adulthood. In his late teens he started drinking, then playing the pokies, as he tried to deal with his past experiences.
'It terrifies me to think how much I have lost. Outside my food, my rent and my phone bills, I was probably putting around 60 per cent of my income through the machines.'
He says in the past month he's felt more at ease than any other time in the past two decades.
'This isolation has been an absolute godsend. Prior to the pandemic I was still visiting pokie rooms two or three times a week, but in the past five weeks I haven't even thought about pokie machines,' Andrew said.
'Prior to this, my anxiety levels were up and down constantly. Now, I'm so much more relaxed and less anxious.
'Today I had a beer and put $20 on the horses on my phone and I was content with that. Before I could pour $3,000 into the pokies in a couple of hours.'
Andrew is worried about what might happen when the pubs and clubs reopen.
'I do have concerns about what happens down the track, but my hope is that my time away from the pokies has given me strength and gets me to see what life is like without them.'
*Not their real names
Share your gambling story with us
Australian Pub Pokies Videos
We know gambling is a widespread national issue affecting millions of Australians.Australian Pub Pokies Images
So, we want your help to find out more about what happens behind the scenes of Australia's gambling industry; to hear from people who have worked inside the industry and those who have lost money.
We assure you that any information you give us will be treated as strictly confidential. We won't publish anything you tell us, or identify you, without getting your permission.
Do you know more?
Please fill out the ABC Investigations gambling story tips form, or text message the team via the WhatsApp or Signal mobile apps on 0418 347 462.The small businessman
Andrew runs a small business in rural Queensland.
Much of his work is done on the road, and when he drives into a new town, he finds it difficult not to pass the local pub.
'If I'm driving for work, something in me gets triggered and I will drop into the pub and start putting money through the pokies,' he said.
The businessman finds himself being drawn to something he hates.
Australian Pub Pokies For Sale
'I can't stand the pokies. But I started playing them 20 years ago when I was struggling with anxiety.'
Andrew suffered trauma as a child that led to anxiety in adulthood. In his late teens he started drinking, then playing the pokies, as he tried to deal with his past experiences.
'It terrifies me to think how much I have lost. Outside my food, my rent and my phone bills, I was probably putting around 60 per cent of my income through the machines.'
He says in the past month he's felt more at ease than any other time in the past two decades.
'This isolation has been an absolute godsend. Prior to the pandemic I was still visiting pokie rooms two or three times a week, but in the past five weeks I haven't even thought about pokie machines,' Andrew said.
'Prior to this, my anxiety levels were up and down constantly. Now, I'm so much more relaxed and less anxious.
'Today I had a beer and put $20 on the horses on my phone and I was content with that. Before I could pour $3,000 into the pokies in a couple of hours.'
Andrew is worried about what might happen when the pubs and clubs reopen.
'I do have concerns about what happens down the track, but my hope is that my time away from the pokies has given me strength and gets me to see what life is like without them.'
*Not their real names
Share your gambling story with us
Australian Pub Pokies Videos
We know gambling is a widespread national issue affecting millions of Australians.Australian Pub Pokies Images
So, we want your help to find out more about what happens behind the scenes of Australia's gambling industry; to hear from people who have worked inside the industry and those who have lost money.
We assure you that any information you give us will be treated as strictly confidential. We won't publish anything you tell us, or identify you, without getting your permission.
The ABC is using the Screendoor tool to collect your story tips. The ABC's Crowdsourcing Collection Statement applies to any information you provide.
Your questions on coronavirus answered:
Topics:gambling, clubs-and-associations, hospitality, covid-19, australia, sydney-2000, qld
First posted April 26, 2020 04:47:10
