Gambling advocates 'horrified' as Queensland pokies players lose record $301 million in a month, prompting calls for reform

Gambling advocates are shocked as Queensland poker machine players lose record $301.8 million in a month. Queenslanders spent $1 billion on pokies in pubs and clubs in the past four months. The government launched a four-year gambling harm minimisation plan in July last year. In the first six months of 2022, pkies losses in Queensland pubs rose by 6.9 per cent year-on-years. Professor Samantha Thomas said poker machines are the most harmful form of gambling in Australia. She said there is no excuse for governments not to do something about it.

Gambling advocates are horrified as Queensland pokies players lose record $301 million in a month. Queenslanders spent more than $1 billion on pkies in pubs and clubs in the past four months.

Professor Thomas and Ms Bardsley are critical of the "gamble responsibly" approach to gambling. They argue that the health and community costs of gambling are far higher than the revenue received. Queensland's gaming machine tax returned $821 million in 2020-21 and estimated revenue for 2021-22 to be $ 816 million. More than $766 million was fed into the state's pokies from April to June.

Ms Bardsley used poker machines to relieve stress. She thinks gambling has hijacked the pub and club culture. Professor Thomas believes the responsible gambling message is nonsense. The state government takes a public health approach to addressing the harm from EGM gambling. It's focusing on harm minimisation is the wrong approach. Australia should move to a position where no harm is acceptable. There should be a reduction in accessibility and availability of the machines and measures to make their use safer. The country is one of only a few places where there are mini casinos in every local neighbourhood.

There are calls for the "gold standard" approach to gambling harm to be adopted. Western Australia has shown that limiting poker machines to casinos resulted in lower levels of gambling harmful. Queensland is moving to take the onus of responsibility away from the individual in relation to the gambling harms. Ms Bardsley has not used a poker machine in 13 years. She is outraged that they are available on every street corner. She had to retrain her brain to not think about gambling. The sounds of a pokies machine trigger her.