"EVIL" POKIES

Or to give them their full title - poker machines. And let's set aside the fact that evil cannot be applied to an inanimate object. It is purely reserved for humankind.

But if ever you wanted a demonstration of the grip such machines have on the citizens of Australia (more specifically NSW which has something like 70% of the country's machines), an article in the Daily Rag should clear any misconceptions up.

It seems that the powers that be have decided in all their wisdom to "educate" the young in such evil. Children as young as 13 years old are battling gambling addiction according to the paper (wanna dispute this, SEE?).

It has become such a problem, it's now considered in the same category as drugs and alcohol. In the article, Gambling Counsellor for Waverly Youth Services's, Madeline Tizcareno, claims, "It's a fun outing (going to the TAB with their father) and they attach happy feelings to it. So then when things get tougher they hold onto those happy feelings and the way gambling makes them feel".
She goes on to say that the problem is so bad that a new program featuring an episode of the Simpsons in which Marg is a pathological gambler, is being used to try and make it fun.

As in all addictions, other than chemical, it belies an underlying dissatisfaction with the victims life forcing them to seek...something, some way of lifting them out of their despair.

Anyway, there y'have it. Evil pokies. My word!