* This article is featured in The Salvation Army Others Magazine - Nov2018
The
Spring Racing Carnival is in full swing. The horses are being immaculately
groomed, and the fashions on the fields are luring in the eyes of the crowd.
The bookies are taking their bets and the lines to the bar are out the door. With
the Melbourne Cup just around the corner there’s no shortage of people
crunching the numbers hoping for a shot at a big return.
Some will win. Many will lose.
Amid
all the glitz and glamour of the races, there’s an underbelly of gambling
addiction that most don’t want to talk about, nor read about.
I think we’d rather admire the ginormous hats and the pristine fields of green.
So
when I recently heard about a local council hosting an event to talk about
gambling, I initially shirked at the idea, but then thought, ‘Why not?’ The
purpose of the meeting was to garner people’s views on the council’s
Responsible Gaming Policy. The questions they posed were intriguing:
-
How much should be allowed to be spent on the pokies every hour?
-
How do we help people who have a gambling addiction?
-
How do you know if someone has a gambling addiction?
-
What percentage of the gaming community are ‘problem gamblers’?
-
To what degree should a local council intervene into people’s
personal gambling choices?
The
reason for the meeting was clear. It wasn’t articulated on a billboard or
placed front and centre on the flyer, but if you weren’t worried about
offending anyone, you would advertise:
“I think our
community has a gambling problem. Let’s discuss it”
Australian
gamblers lose a record $24b in a year
Nick Toscano
writes, ‘Pokies accounted for the largest share of losses ($12 billion),
followed by casinos ($5.2 billion), racing ($2.9 billion) and Lotto ($1.9
billion).’
That’s a lot of ka-ching, ka-ching over the course of a
year. I take a bet each way that there were more losers than there were
winners.
It’s intriguing, that even though the odds are stacked up
against us, Australians still love to gamble.
Who am I surrounding myself with?
A research report looking into social
influences on gamblers notes, ‘Those who have experienced more harm are also
surrounded by more gamblers who have experienced harm, and are more likely to
gamble with them despite experiencing harm.’
Sounds like the company you keep
reinforces the way you act.
The report continues, ‘Thus, not only is
gambling-related behaviour normalised through these social networks, so too is gambling-related
harm’(page 15).
Now I know why they offer those $12 Parma nights. Let’s create a community that
reinforces the way I behave. Then I can feel like my choices are legitimized
because a whole bunch of others are doing the same thing. Mix in a little
Spring Racing Carnival beer and you have yourself a potential problem.
Normalising the Support
I have family history in the gambling industry. No, I’m not
a multi-million dollar fat cat who owns three winning horses and a holiday
house in Dubai. I mean, I have family who used to be addicted to gambling. I’ve
seen the effects it has on family life. I’ve witnessed a little of what problem
gambling does to relationships.
The problem is, we haven’t normalised the seeking of support
in our culture. We’ve done it for smoking. We’ve done it for drinking. We’ve
done it for Prostate Cancer. We’re doing it for drug dependency.
But, when it comes to gambling, it’s like we either don’t
think there’s a problem, or we’re too shy to speak up about it.
We need to normalise the seeking of support. There’s no
shame to say, ‘I have a problem with gambling.’
You might have a flutter on the Spring Racing Carnival and
drink too many Coronas and you go home a little tipsy. Do what you do. But if
you’ve woken up the next day with the bank account absolutely shattered and
your marriage on the line, then you’ve got a problem.
Go get some help.
The same report referred to earlier says,
‘People experiencing problems with gambling need to be supported to develop the
capacity to navigate these saturated social networks and environments. At a broader
level, strategies to increase social support and normalisation of efforts to
limit or abstain from gambling should also be investigated.’
Maybe we should start a hashtag:
#donewithgambling
Then
we could create a movement that says it’s ok to seek help. It’s ok to bring
others into your social network that hold you accountable. It’s fine to tell
someone close to you how much you spend and how often you gamble.
The race that
stops a nation may have nice hats, groomed horses and pretty fields, but I’ll
be honest with you: I’m done with gambling.
Pete Brookshaw is the Corps
Officer of The Salvation Army Craigieburn. He has a Bachelor of both Business
and Theology and is passionate about the church being dynamic and effective in
the world and creating communities of faith that are outward-focused,
innovative, passionate about the lost and committed to societal change. He has
been blogging since 2006 at www.petebrookshaw.com
about leadership and faith and you can find him on:
