can we ban alcohol? its ruined more families and lives than pokies over the course of human history.
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Its really really simple - the profits either go to keep a club that provides a community benefit alive (the EFC would likely be bankrupt &/or fully reliant on AFL handouts without pokies) OR the profit goes towards the bottom line of a large corporation who provide little or most likely no community benefit at all. The pokies not existing & not taking any profit from gamblers who can & canāt afford it is not in any way shape or form at the discretion of the EFC.
What I learnt from this post is the olā fox likes smart chicks too.
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I grew up in a Victoria when there were no pokies (and no casino either). If we wanted to gamble a few quid, we checked the form guide in the Sun or the Pink Comic, then went down the TAB and backed the horse weād decided was best suited to the length and the track conditions; the one with the best jockey, perhaps, or the one we knew could carry the weight and still win the race. āHeās had three 3rds and a 2nd: heās due a win.ā āHeās second favouriteā¦ Never back favourites - the odds are crap ā but 2nd favourites are usually worth a fiver each way.ā
When we were flush or just bored with the TAB shop (it wasnāt inside the pub those days, but usually next door), weād go to the races at the Valley, or Caulfield sometimes, and share our hard-earned with the bookies. Sometimes we even won a few bob. Like when Bunratty Castle won the Caulfield Cup at 12 to 1. That made up for the bad days, when weād have to send Moriarty to get a tip from his Aunty Madge, who was a professional gambler: she made her living at it.
Pokies ? We used to laugh at the idiots (thatās what we thought of them) who wanted pokies, and who were queuing up to go on bus excursions to New South ā ā ā ā ā ā Wales to play the pokies across the Murray. How could you gamble on pokies ? Where was the Form Guide ? How could you calculate the odds, the way you could on a horse race ? Sitting in front of a one-armed bandit and pulling a lever, hour after hour, feeding money into it until your pockets were empty. That was a mugās game.
Then we were up in Sydney on holiday and a smart local bloke showed us how to pull the lever slowly and feel the tumblers fall. That was a bit of fun ā because there was a bit of skill involved. It was fun until the bouncers noticed us doing it, anyway. Things got a bit rough then.
It wasnāt long before they computerised the whole operation ā cut the banditās arm off, and gave him a row of buttons instead. And flashing lights, and mood music. No skill required. Punters hypnotised by a son et lumiĆØre show. Put your brain in neutral, forget lifeās problems, feed your coins into the machine and push the buttons to make the lights flash and the music play.
Then the Victorian Govt sat up and took noticeā¦
F**k the pokies. Itās a moronic mugās game ā as even the Collywobbles know. But Essendonā¦.
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Nice story 
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I like Kennetts responseā¦ They are legal.
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Wasnāt he chairman of beyond blue at some point?
What a nimrod.
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Serious question. If Victoria banned pokies tomorrow - what would happen?
More people would visit NSW and SA.
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And lots of pubs and clubs would launch lawsuits
Which would make the lawyers a lot of money, and benefit the rest of us through the trickle down effect.
ā¦
yeah, that last bit is BS.
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Who gives a ā ā ā ā ā , seriously. The AFL are ballls deep in gambling as an industry. They can chose to take a leadership role, they have not. We are in a serious amount of debt and replacing a 2-3 mill EBIT takes some significant change, time, resources, thinking etcā¦ I donāt like them personally but people need to self regulate. We are invested in pubs and people donāt mind, alchole is a bigger societal issue than gambling.
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A lot of things.
For a start, the Victorian Government would have to find a shedload of money from other sources.
A small but not insignificant amount of people would not have their lives ruined.
Probably a significant amount less work for therapists.
The stress level of the state would decrease by, again, a small but not insignificant amount as spouses, parents, children and the victims themselves suddenly had that monkey off their back.
I guess pubs would look for other ways to generate revenue.
A few Rugby League clubs would fold, but thatās NSW.
Iāll tell you what would Not happen, despite arguments to the contrary.
All of the people addicted to pokies would Not suddenly turn to the TAB.
And the pubs and clubs sure as hell know the hell out of that.
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Also, you wouldnāt need to ban all āpokies.ā
You could keep slots.
You could keep video poker.
WA has similar sorts of things.
But everyone knows those things are nowhere near as effective at draining peoples wallets.
Everyone knows those things arenāt addictive as fark.
And that really is the point.
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How much does it improve the economy though. We get 11 million from 2 venues the total statewide must be astronomical. Thatās a lot of money to get pumped into other places.
Iām not denying that Victoria is as addicted to pokies as any individual person ever.
Bacchus would be sad
A lot of people would be happy
A small amount of people would be a lot lot richer
Yep. That is exactly the point. And if I read one more person in this thread making some ridiculous equivalency argument between pokies and alcohol or pokies and horse racing or pokies and ANYTHING I am going to lose it
What if addiction to the pokies hid another issue with ones mental health which, when one outlet was removed might move to another area such as prescription drugs, alcohol or illicit drugs?
What if the pokie addiction is the symptom rather than the cause?
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Would removing one of the symptoms be a problem?
Unless youāre thinking "dey took mah pokies away, ama gonna drink mahself ta deathā kinda thing?
So about the racing ā ā ā ā ā ā horses thing ā¦
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