In 1997 when I turned 18, I wandered into the gaming room of a club, and my life was changed forever. 

Every social space that I visited with my friends had poker machines, and I quickly became addicted. With no consumer safeguards controlling how much I could lose, that addiction consumed my next 15 years, cost me about $500,000 and almost took my life.

I knew nothing about the dangers of these machines when I first sat down at one. I thought I was in a safe environment playing a ‘game’. I had no clue poker machines are neurologically as addictive as cocaine or that they had the potential to be so financially and emotionally damaging. 

In 2012, I almost ended my life because I believed the lie that “pokies” were just “harmless fun”, and the fault lay with me. I thought I was broken, instead of the system that was rigged against me and our communities. I almost allowed this overwhelming shame perpetuated by the gambling industry to push me into joining the tragic statistics of the hundreds of Australians who take their lives due to gambling-related issues each year. 

Australians lose more money to gambling per person than any other nationality in the world. Gambling is a national public health crisis, and the government needs to step in. 

We at GHLEE (Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts) are calling for each state and territory to enforce loss limits on poker machines of $100 per day, $500 per month, and $5000 per year. This simple act will literally save lives.

Poker machines are harmful like any other addictive product, with consequences for public health, and we need urgent consumer protections implemented nationally.

Our Premiers and Chief Ministers cannot argue with the fact that year on year, we are seeing gambling company profits rise while poker machine losses soar and consumer safety is ignored.

Tasmania made plans to introduce a cashless poker machines card system, with loss limits, but then later paused this rollout, claiming it would prefer to work with other states to come up with a solution. We need all states and territories working together to make these changes stick.

When I turned 18 in the 1990s, these products were already addictive and predatory. Now, with technological advancements and added speed and sophistication, poker machines have developed into the perfect machine for addiction, able to extract large sums of money from the user in record time. Thanks to these advancements, Australians lose $13 billion to poker machines each year.

Our state and territory governments must put people over profits and make simple, effective changes NOW. The risk Australians face from poker machines increases every day, and it’s time to act.