They’ve got almost half a million Australians hooked[1]. And that’s exactly what they’re designed to do.
They're rigged, they're addictive and they're everywhere. Worst of all, they target the poorest Australians. For the first time, the masterminds behind the machines reveal how they’re programmed for addiction. And we show how our governments became the biggest addicts of all. They’re rigged, they’re addictive and they’re everywhere. They’ve got almost half a million Australians hooked – and that’s just what they’re designed to do.
Pokie Nation Audience Survey. Pokie is a colossal range of free Slots out there, with games that have themes that are designed around blockbuster moviescartoons and television shows. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Pokie Nation, produced by Neil Lawrence and Mitzi Goldman, is impressive stuff, on par with a Four Corners investigation. Screening to an older ABC audience it will hit a target market, many of whom will possibly be upset by its revelations. Ultimately, making more informed decisions can only be good in the long run.
Produced by Neil Lawrence and Mitzi Goldman and directed by Jane Manning, Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation exposes how the seemingly innocuous pokie machines at your local pub are programmed for addiction.
For the first time, industry insiders go on the record to explain how these sophisticated machines combine graphics and musical elements with complex mathematical algorithms to keep punters hooked. Hear from game designers, mathematicians and composers who’ve designed hundreds of machines, as they break the silence around this highly secretive industry.
Their testimonies are supported by world-leading neuroscientists, who take us into the lab to show how these machines work on our brains, leading some researchers to call them “the crack cocaine of gambling” and “electronic morphine”.
Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation unveils how successive Australian governments have become the biggest addicts of all. The film reveals the powerful alliances that support the pokie industry and benefit from the massive income it generates ($12 billion a year[1]).
This documentary puts the pokie machine on trial.
Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation delves behind the flashing lights and ‘spinning’ reels to find out what makes pokies so addictive. With Gambling Disorder now listed alongside cocaine and heroin in the world ‘psychiatric bible’, the DSM[2], pokies have a unique pulling power.
Exclusive interviews with the architects behind these machines reveal how carefully they program pokies, with a highly organised network of mathematicians, musicians, sound and lighting designers all working together on a single vision: to make the punters keep playing and the machines keep winning. Their testimonies are supported by a series of world-renowned neuroscientists and addiction specialists, including Wolfram Schultz, a pioneer in dopamine research. Together, their ground-breaking research casts doubt on a long-held industry assertion: that the problem is with a small minority of individuals who lack self-control.
Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation also explores the relationship between the pokie industry and the government, exposing the complexities caused by the government’s reliance on tax revenue to fill budget holes, the implications of political donations to both major parties by gambling-related companies and the massive pressures imposed by powerful lobby groups and stakeholders.
Pokie machines - some facts and statistics
Originally employed to entertain the wives of the High Rollers, Las Vegas casinos were transformed by the introduction of ‘Electronic Gaming Machines’ (Poker Machines) in the 1970’s. However, it was not until the late 1980’s and early 1990’s that poker machines became widely available in Australia. Two decades on, Australia has rapidly become the pokies capital of the world, boasting more machines[3] and a higher spend per capita[4] than any other country. Australians spend a staggering $12 billion a year[1] on pokie machines, and it seems everyone – players, industry and government – is hooked.
- Approximately 70% of Australians are in favour of regulation to make pokies safer[5].
- Australian state governments together collect around $4 billion from Pokies taxes each year[6].
- Of the $12 billion spent each year on pokies, 40% of that revenue is from problem gamblers and another 20% is from individuals on their way to developing a gambling problem[1]
- Approximately 600,000 Australians play poker machines at least once a week[1]
- At any one time in Australia there are approximately 100,000 addicted poker machine players and another 100,000 players on their way to addiction[1]
- Victoria’s Alfred Hospital reports that one in five suicides or suicide attempts that are treated in their hospital are the result of machine addiction[7].
- Socio-economically disadvantaged areas average five times more machines than affluent postcodes[8].
LINK TO VIEW AVAILABLE ON REQUEST.
Available for interview / comment:
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Tim Costello AO, Chair of National Churches Gambling Taskforce
Dr Susan Rennie, Public Health Advocate
Dr Charles Livingstone, Gambling researcher and Public Health Expert
Carolyn Hirsh, former Victorian MP
Mitzi Goldman, Producer
About the filmmakers:
Jane Manning – director
Jane Manning is a multi-award winning director and writer of documentary and drama. She has directed and written multiple episodes of TV series such as Coast Australia (The History Channel), Who Do You Think You Are? (SBS), Deadly Women (Crime Investigation Network), In Their Footsteps’ Channel Nine), and Two of Us (SBS). Her drama films have won numerous Australian and international awards, including the prestigious Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival, Best Australian Film, Best Direction and Most Popular Film at Flickerfest, and First Place at Palm Springs Film Festival.
Mitzi Goldman – Producer
Mitzi Goldman is a Director of Looking Glass Pictures. Mitzi has written, produced, edited and directed documentaries for 30 years. Her films have screened around the world in festivals in Germany, South Africa, the UK, France, Spain, the USA, and in Australia and have received many nominations and awards. Her previous credits include Hatred (ABC), Ports Of Destiny (SBS), Chinese Take Away (SBS), Bloodlines (ABC) and End of the Rainbow (SBS, ARTE, ITVS). 2011/12 credits include, Memoirs of a Plague (NAT GEO), which screened in competition at IDFA 2010, A Common Purpose (winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the SFF 2011 and nominated for Best Feature Doc at 2012 AACTA Awards) and Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography (2013). Mitzi was Co-Head of Documentary at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (2002-2008), co-founded Ozdox a monthly forum on documentary culture and is Chief Executive Officer of the Documentary Australia Foundation bringing philanthropy and filmmakers together to inspire social change.
Neil Lawrence – Executive Producer
Neil was the Executive Creative Director of STW, Australia’s largest advertising group. In 2007, The Australian made him Australia Marketer of the year for being the strategic and creative force behind the successful KEVIN07 election campaign for Labor in the Federal election. He went on from that to campaign for Anna Bligh in 2008, the first female elected to high office in Australia. Neil represented Australia on the film jury at the Cannes Lions, was a regular contributor to national newspapers, was part of the panel on the ABC TV’s highly successful Gruen Nation and appeared on ABC TV’s Q&A. He was on the board of The Centenary Cancer Research Institute and established and chaired its fundraising Foundation. Neil directed a documentary To Spring from the Hand on the life and work of American artist Paulus Berensohn (2012). Neil died suddenly on July 15 2015, days after Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation was delivered to the ABC.
[1] From the Australian Productivity Commission Report ‘Gambling’, 2010
[2]The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
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[3] Vol 2 of the Australian Productivity Commission's 1999 report at p.N4 of appendix N. http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling
[4] http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/02/daily-chart-0
[5] In an ANUPoll in 2011, 74% of the population agreed on a precommitment system for gambling, and 70% agreed gambling should be more tightly controlled. http://lyceum.anu.edu.au/wp-content/blogs/3/uploads/ANUpoll-%20Gambling1.pdf
[6] ABS Australian tax revenue series.
[7] See p5 http://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/4033/Gambling-in-people-presenting-public-mental-health-service.pdf
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[8] http://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/information-and-resources/research/recent-research/modelling-vulnerability-to-gambling-related-harm-how-disadvantage-predicts-gambling-losses