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UnitingCare Wesley
Adelaide

Ref:6/2003

27 March , 2003

Join in with Pokie Free Day

Adelaide Central Mission is urging everyone to give up playing the pokies for a day.  So has declared today as South Australia’s first Pokie Free Day.

The Mission is promoting Pokie Free day because:

  • 9 out of 10 people seeking out our BreakEven gambling counselling service are over using poker machines.
  • Over 40% of poker machine revenue comes from people with gambling problems.
  • Mission counsellors are seeing growing numbers of people with gambling problems who are committing crimes to feed their gambling problems.
  • Poker machine gambling is causing severe relationship stress in many families with problem gamblers.

“We are simply suggesting to regular poker machine players that they take a break for a day” said Mark Henley, Manger of Advocacy and Communication.

  While a person does not need to gamble every day to be a problem gambler, the capacity to take a break from playing the pokies indicates an important level of control over the machines.

  “Regular gamblers who do not play the pokies today are encouraged to use the money that they would other wise have spent on pokies to do something positive for themselves and their families, maybe a simple treat for the children – time and a block of chocolate, for example, can help rebuild relationships suffering from pokies pressure” Mr Henley suggested.

For Further Comment
Mark Henley
Senior Policy Officer		 (08) 8202 5135
0404 067 011 (mob)
Vin Glenn 
Gambling Counsellor 		(from 11.00 am) ph  8202 5100

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