Post #2066630
2026-05-04 05:36 UTC
@byroncclark agree. I, regretfully did some work at the TAB. They were making a $600k profit every day at that point. Mainly from pokies and international gambling syndicates. They spoke alot at induction about how seriously they took problem gambling. But the problem gambling unit was 1 person, who worked 1 day a week, and once said to me 'look felix, a problem gambler will walk across glass to make a bet- there's really not much we can do'.
They also had a VIPs team, that monitored gamblers who spent $5k a month or more. If the dipped below that number, the TAB would contact them and offer incentives to get there 'investments' back up. Anecdotal observation, these people were often old, out of their depth, and gambling money their families would rather they didn't (read, they were exhausting the family fortune).
There was a lot more, but it's bringing back horrible memories, and some guilt that I well and truly deserve.
Replies (1)
-
@felix@mastodon.nz 2026-05-04 05:41
@byroncclark I did some gratis work for Problem Gambling following. At some point the National government diverted Problem Gambling funding to a group backed by Sky Casio and a Chinese tourism operator. Not sure how it all 'works' now, but it was engineered to encourage more problem gambling to demonstrate large numbers of problem gamblers were being helped, by ensuring there were always more problem gamblers to help. (This is my observation- TAB and Sky have big scary PR and lawyers- i don't need them in my life)