Pokie machines are gaming machines. You put money in the slot, pull a lever and hope you win the right combination of pictures. Australia has just shown a documentary about gambling addicts and they are mostly addicted to pokies. We may see the documentary here.
New Zealand also has gambling addicts and many of these people are addicted to pokies. There are pokie machines in casinos but also in pubs. It is interesting that many poor people play the pokie machines. The ratio of pokie machines in well-off areas is 1 machine to 465 people while the ratio in poor areas is 1 machine to 76 people. People who gamble regularly spend just over $25 a week.
Do they win? The machine is programmed to win many more times than the player. The machine also is programmed to give people hope. They get free spins to keep them interested. A near miss – it is almost right – gives hope for the next time and a false win, which gives back 40c from a $1 spin, seems like a win although it’s a loss of 60c.
The good thing about gaming machines in pubs is that pubs give back 40% of the profits to the community. Pub Charities give millions of dollars four times a year to all kinds of community groups: sports, health, arts, schools, environment and many more. Casinos on the other hand only have to give 2.5%. They do have to pay a tax to help gambling addicts though.
Vocabulary
• combination (n) – a sequence of pictures in the right order
• addict (n) a person who is addicted (adj); cannot control their use of pokies
• ratio (n)– mathematical formula, can be shown as 1:76 (one to 76)
• well-off (adj) – more wealthy, have more money
• spin (v) – to go around and around fast, the pictures go around