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Making the experience of losing almost $3500 feel like you’ve only lost $100
by Les
A recent column in The Sydney Morning Herald underscores how little knowledge problem gamblers have about the amount of money they are losing.
While people often underestimate their spending on various items, like transportation and clothing, the amount of money people lose gambling stands out among them all. According to the article:
“For gambling, if we say we have spent $100, on average we have really spent $735. Then there are the pokies [electronic gambling machines]. On average, if pokie players say they have spent $100, they have actually spent $3448. That’s not a misprint: they are apparently aware of just 2.9 per cent of what they are losing.”
This explains why casino executives strongly oppose efforts by citizen leaders like Bill Kearney in Pennsylvania to require predatory gambling operators to inform their visitors about their monthly losses. It also explains why public officials stand on the sidelines while the most predatory business practices in the nation are used to exploit millions of Americans in a failed effort to pay for important government services.
Must be stopped
It is sad that government relies on problem gamblers who have no real grasp on what their losing as a source of revenue. Hopefully, more people will read articles like this and demand that this practice stops.