Gambling with the future

Australia usually conjures thoughts of the great outdoors and sun-filled days. But there’s an oft-overlooked aspect of our national culture that’s increasingly pervasive.

Poker machines, or pokies, are pretty much ubiquitous in the nation’s pubs. Australia has around 7000 venues, of which just 2% are pokie-free. You are more likely to be summoned for jury duty or have your flight delayed than you are to walk into any pub in the country and not be confronted with a flashing money magnet.

This plays out exactly as you’d think. A third of Aussie adults use poker machines at least once a year, helping make them the biggest gamblers per capita in the world. We are losing more money to gambling than the federal government spends on aged care annually. Unsurprisingly, most losses are from at-risk gamblers.

That mix of popularity and dopamine has naturally seen influencers pour into the space. 

A user called Degeneratebro has almost 40,000 followers, making daily pokie content stylised with an $850 Gucci cap and a lucky vape. Luca Kante’s pokie videos can break the one million views mark.

The peak body for Australian doctors has recommended such content be restricted, but such is the growth of the phenomenon across YouTube, Twitch, and other social platforms, attempting to take down every piece of content would be like, well, trying to win on the pokies.

Aside from being an interesting, if depressing, societal trend, the conversation also says plenty about our cultural discourse. 

Individuals and platforms responsible for disseminating content are scrutinised in favour of an uncomfortable look at the real root causes - from unbelievably lax regulation to collapsing economic models for many pubs. 

Is Degeneratebro really the problem? Obviously yes, but just like the pokies, we may all be better off not focusing on the shiny object in front of us.