Poker Machines - not a toy
September 28th, 2006A letter in last Friday’s SMH draws attention to the promotion of gambling culture to children in local clubs.
The letter’s author,
David Jerome from Berry, is right on the money. Children playing pokies for toys are being seduced into the government sponsored gambling rort.
In 2004/05 in Australia, $53 billion was lost in poker machines and of that $3.17 billion was lost in the 5379 machines installed in the City of Sydney clubs and pubs. This vast amount of money came straight out of the pockets of mainly lower to middle income families.
This isn’t a game - these people are hooked on a habit that destroys families, causes domestic violence and puts people in gaol when they steal from the boss to feed their addiction.
Isn’t it time that councils and the state government stopped profiting from these misery machines and regulated them out of existence?
Download:
- Greens to remove the NSW Government’s dependence on poker machines. (Microsoft Word) Media Release Sept. 11
