“In the long run, you always lose”: An eastern suburbs local on escaping the cycle of gambling harm

Australians lost about $32 billion to gambling during the last financial year. Of that, Victorians lost $3.145 billion on electronic gaming machines or “pokies” alone. Across the eastern suburbs LGAs of Monash, Whitehorse and Knox, gamblers lost a total of more than $268 million in the 2024/25 period.

Gambling – particular on pokies – is clearly a part of our culture that will not go away on its own.

For eastern suburbs local Robert*, playing the pokies went from something that was not part of his childhood to a debilitating addiction. 

“You certainly lose,” Robert told the Eastern Melburnian. “You might win at some point, but in the long run, you always lose. That is a given, that's a fact. The longer you play, the more likely you are to lose.”

Council actions: During his first speech as incoming Monash mayor on Tuesday November 11, councillor Stuart James said Monash was among the LGAs with the highest amount of gambling harm – with more than $126 million lost in 2024/24 across Monash.

• “The harm caused by gambling, particularly from electronic gaming machines, is real, widespread and deeply damaging to individuals and families in our community,” said James. “Too often, meaningful reform is deliberately stalled.”

The local impact: Robert’s story of gambling addiction is one that represents the ease at which habits can form and their long term effects. In the 1990s, Robert said he and his partner would often spend about $50 an hour on pokies after a dinner date. 

• “It was just fun and it was all quite new at that time,” said Robert. “Over the years, the number of venues expanded, the number of machines in each venue expanded and the whole machinery of pokie machines just increased dramatically over the next 10 to 15 years. You could gamble from seven in the morning until four o'clock the next morning.”

What came next: Robert said he started justifying the habit of popping into a pokies venue after work – and the increasing amount of money he was losing – as simply “a way to relax and just switch off”.

• “It might sound odd to say that I found it relaxing to be losing money, but I did because there's a bit of a buzz about winning when you do win,” he said.

What first started as half-hour sessions soon became two-hour or even as high as four-hour sessions, pressing buttons again and again, in search of the next win.

Even when he won a $10,000 jackpot, it wasn’t enough of an incentive to quit, but only provided him with more money to gamble away.

• “The enjoyment I got out of it didn't really disappear,” said Robert. “The machines are highly addictive. They're programmed to ensure that you spend the maximum amount of time and that you lose the maximum amount of money.”

Personal impacts: Robert said he decided to tell his friends and loved ones about two years ago, with many “really quite surprised” that he had been hiding the secret for so long.

Beyond losing a couple of friends in the process, the hardest loss was the end of his marriage.

• “My marriage was heading towards ending, but the revelation of my gambling brought it to a sudden and rapid close and caused a great deal of anguish for my ex-wife,” said Robert, who used the same sort of self-talk methods he implemented to give up a 20-year smoking habit to rid himself of the urge to gamble.

For the industry as a whole, “there’s no going back” to the simple days of mechanical slot machines or bookies.

• “The government is hooked on the revenue that they get and the industry and the companies that provide the machines also rely on the income that the machines generate,” said Robert.

Robert said he hasn’t gone into a pokies room for the past eight months or so and is doing well thanks to his loved ones keeping him in check and regularly seeing a counsellor.

However, he considers himself lucky he never got into online gambling.

• “That's the difference – my gambling was not in my home, it wasn't on my phone, which gives you 24/7 access,” said Robert. “I had to physically go somewhere to do it.”

Labor’s commitment: The Federal Government has remained relatively tight-lipped on gambling reform.

It has been two and a half years since the late-Labor MP Peta Murphy called on the Albanese Government to introduce a phased ban on gambling advertising, following an inquiry into the negative effects of online gambling.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie sent a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week, requesting he allow a free vote in parliament on legislation to ban gambling advertising. However, he has not yet indicated whether or not he would do so.