There was a time when where Christians stood on gambling was pretty clear cut. But the increasing secularisation of our country, and cries of wowserism have eroded the church’s hard line on this issue. Of course many Christians see this as a good thing. Christians don’t want to be seen as wowsers and kill joys. We want to make a real connection with out community and not be seen as the anti-fun police.
However, the assumption in this kind of thinking is that, for most people, gambling is just a bit of harmless fun. This kind of rhetoric is just what the gambling industry want us to believe and it hides the very dark reality of gambling in this country. For there are huge numbers of people for whom gambling is not just a bit of fun.
The statistics confirm this. There are between 80,000 and 160,000 problem gamblers in Australia, and between 230,000 and 350,000 people at moderate risk.
And the amount of money that is being lost by these people is staggering. They contribute about 50% of total revenue from gambling. The saddest part of these statistics is who is collecting the money. Australian Community Clubs, are collecting up to 800 million dollars a year just from problem gamblers.
On a poker machine you can lose up to $1200 an hour, and $10,000 can be placed on a machine. This is not “just a fun night out”. The kind of people losing money on these machines aren’t the rich and famous but those supporting families, or those whittling away their retirement savings. Problem gamblers in one sense are still responsible for their loses. But the families, their children, their friends, their mums and dads, are innocent victims of the social repercussions.
The gambling industry, our local clubs, and our State government, depend on the 50% of gambling money coming from problem gamblers. They are not interested in reform and are indeed resistant to it. The reform that is needed is only going to come from a strong movement of prayer and a voice from the community. My prayer is that that Christians will be the loudest voices in this reform.
(For further reading and references refer to: Tackling poker machines head on Social Issues briefing #091, 29/04/2011. )