Poker machines are designed

to be addictive. They work on the principle of a "reward" although not many people would see it that way. The "reward" is that something happens when you press the button or pull the lever or whatever it is you do when you play. Things move, lights light up and there is a noise.  At least this is what my brief, distant observation of those infernal machines tells me. I have never  "played" on one in my life and I never wish to do so.

They have come to my attention over the last couple of days for two reasons. The first is the concerns about a teenage boy who is so heavily into "gaming" that he is failing at school and causing other serious issues at home. His parents stopped to speak to me while they were out walking their dog. (The dog stopped first. It always does.)

Then there was the article in my news feed which has been repeated in this morning's paper.  It talks about the history of poker machines in this state. It is not a pretty history.

We did not have "the pokies" here until 1994. At that time the government, under immense pressure from the hotels,  allowed them to be introduced. Until then anyone who wanted to "play the pokies" would go interstate. There were actual bus trips for pensioners to do this, day trips across the border to a neighbouring state where they could lose money. I sometimes wondered what those trips were like going out happily and then coming home in a more sombre mood?

Since then, so the article claims, $8bn have been lost to the pokies. Some of that, about forty percent, has gone into government coffers. The rest has lined the pockets of the owners of the machines - who are not necessarily the hoteliers themselves. The hoteliers have made more money with "cheap" meals and "happy hour" drinks. Neither thing really exists of course. They know they will get the money back in other ways. 

I have known people severely impacted by these games. One of them lived with his mother. She was a pension. He was on unemployment. Both of them spent almost everything they had at the local hotel. They were addicted and it showed. The house was piled high with rubbish. They were not clean. They were not eating properly. The stove did not even work and there was no microwave as a substitute. There was no washing machine. All this had gone in favour of playing the pokies. It was an extreme example and a very sad one because, despite all this, the man was one of the most polite I have ever known.

I have known three marriage break downs because of addiction to poker machines and people spending so much that rent or the mortgage or something else vital was not being paid for. I have known an employer pay someone's partner instead of the employee in an attempt to reduce the problem. 

Access to poker machines can be very, very harmful. We all know that. We have all read and heard stories of people who have committed fraud and theft to feed their addiction. The government would appear to be as addicted as those who play. The money that comes in every year goes into general revenue. It is a useful "drop" into the murky depths of government expenditure. Other people can pay for the consequences while the government keeps the powerful "hospitality" lobby happy.

I thought of all this as I read the article and thought about the boy failing at school. I knew him when he was in primary school. He was intelligent and somewhere near the top of his class. He seemed friendly and happy enough. Now he is apparently failing and moody. Perhaps I am wrong but it seems to me that an addiction to playing certain sorts of computer games can be just as harmful. They operate on the same false "reward" principle.

It really seems to me there is no reward in this at all...unless you are the owner or the designer or the government.