An old flat mate of mine was living on the streets for a while because he was putting all his money in pokie machines and given all the stories on here, it appears to be a reasonably common problem. I remember going through a phase where I gambled every night on them but soon realised at $20-30 a night it was costing me a lot of money so just stopped. It was easy for me to stop but obviously not for others.
Someone like Packer with his ownership of pokies is a parasite on problem gamblers sucking money that the gambler should be using to support his/her partner and children. In a much smaller sense, I am also a parasite getting cheap beer and food at our local club because of the problem gamblers who keep throwing money in the machines. Next time you get your club's financial report, have a look at how much money they make from pokies.
