It all begins with a push of a button.
The process is simple. Pick one of the 196 000 pokie machines in Australia sat idle, awaiting their next victim. Insert some coins into a slot and press that green button. Mindlessly stare, wholly and completely fixated as those icons spin around and around. Powerless to those flashing lights, to that symphony of celebratory sound effects- which are more often than not, praising the loss of yoyr hard- earned money. Only to do it all over again.
To 23 year old Joshua Jones this was routine. This was the norm.
April 26, 2016. Joshua was a young high-flying accountant with the whole world at his fingertips.
April 27. Dead. Suicide.
After his gambling addiction spiralled out of control; the debts, the loans, feeding his dangerous habit, hit an all-consuming and gut wrenchingly shameful low. Thousands upon thousands of dollars thrown away on a 'harmless' bet. Losing all he loved because of one wretched game of chance. You may ask yourself how someone could get to this point? How could it have possibly started?
Well as I said, it all begins with a push of a button.
This is just one case, plucked from thousands of those whose lives have suffered at the hands of these lethal machines. The gateway that endorses the worst aspects of human addiction. Something …show more content…
To say this Aussie obsession is detrimental is clear, but these implications do not even begin to consider the ripple effects of such an obsession- the family members, the friends, the employers and the colleagues. According to the Australian Medical Association, for every single person who suffers from a gambling addiction, 5-10 people are affected. That is five million Australians, just like you and I, suffering the adverse effects of this issue, due to someone else's
The process is simple. Pick one of the 196 000 pokie machines in Australia sat idle, awaiting their next victim. Insert some coins into a slot and press that green button. Mindlessly stare, wholly and completely fixated as those icons spin around and around. Powerless to those flashing lights, to that symphony of celebratory sound effects- which are more often than not, praising the loss of yoyr hard- earned money. Only to do it all over again.
To 23 year old Joshua Jones this was routine. This was the norm.
April 26, 2016. Joshua was a young high-flying accountant with the whole world at his fingertips.
April 27. Dead. Suicide.
After his gambling addiction spiralled out of control; the debts, the loans, feeding his dangerous habit, hit an all-consuming and gut wrenchingly shameful low. Thousands upon thousands of dollars thrown away on a 'harmless' bet. Losing all he loved because of one wretched game of chance. You may ask yourself how someone could get to this point? How could it have possibly started?
Well as I said, it all begins with a push of a button.
This is just one case, plucked from thousands of those whose lives have suffered at the hands of these lethal machines. The gateway that endorses the worst aspects of human addiction. Something …show more content…
To say this Aussie obsession is detrimental is clear, but these implications do not even begin to consider the ripple effects of such an obsession- the family members, the friends, the employers and the colleagues. According to the Australian Medical Association, for every single person who suffers from a gambling addiction, 5-10 people are affected. That is five million Australians, just like you and I, suffering the adverse effects of this issue, due to someone else's