21 March 2013

Pokies can't have headphones anymore

| Barcham
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An ACT Greens bill banning pokie machines from using headphones to keep their players from remembering that there is a life outside of their crippling addiction was passed today.

ACT Greens Member, Shane Rattenbury, championed an amendment to the Gaming Machine Act which will prevent the Gambling and Racing Commissioner from approving machines with audio devices unless the device is specifically for those with a hearing impairment. The bill was unanimously passed by the Legislative Assembly.

“Gaming machine manufactures now make machines with headphones or ‘audio isolation devices’, which are designed to minimise external distractions and keep gamblers focused on the machines for longer,” said Mr Rattenbury.

This is undoubtably a good thing. However I’m still waiting for the day the government just bans the insidious machines. I know it’s not coming, but it’s wonderful to dream.

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LSWCHP said :

BimboGeek said :

No they are a test for ADHD. If you’ve been encouraged to try it (maybe to kill a few minutes or because your friends were having a go) and found yourself so exasperatingly NOT entertained that you deliberately chose the biggest bets and pressed any old button at random to just sacrifice your $5 and get away from this tedious, repetitive task…

Well, like me, you might have a problem there.

Sitting around is bad enough, but sitting in front of that awful Mario music with just a handful of buttons to press? I wanted to tear my hair out!

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. I thought I may have been the only person in the country not struggling with an overwhelming urge to put money into these things.

If ever there was a more tedious and annoying activity than playing the pokies I haven’t found it. I must have missed out on the gambling gene in general, because nothing about it interests me, but sitting in a dark, fusty room full of stupid sound effects while I push money into a slot and press a few buttons has a particularly profound lack of attraction. And being in one of those rooms and watching the glazed addicts scratching their itch really shows how low people can go.

The outfits that run these machines should be ashamed of themselves.

They’re great fun when your $5 turns into $500. Those flashing lights and ‘mario’ tunes turn out to be pretty enjoyable.

BimboGeek said :

No they are a test for ADHD. If you’ve been encouraged to try it (maybe to kill a few minutes or because your friends were having a go) and found yourself so exasperatingly NOT entertained that you deliberately chose the biggest bets and pressed any old button at random to just sacrifice your $5 and get away from this tedious, repetitive task…

Well, like me, you might have a problem there.

Sitting around is bad enough, but sitting in front of that awful Mario music with just a handful of buttons to press? I wanted to tear my hair out!

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. I thought I may have been the only person in the country not struggling with an overwhelming urge to put money into these things.

If ever there was a more tedious and annoying activity than playing the pokies I haven’t found it. I must have missed out on the gambling gene in general, because nothing about it interests me, but sitting in a dark, fusty room full of stupid sound effects while I push money into a slot and press a few buttons has a particularly profound lack of attraction. And being in one of those rooms and watching the glazed addicts scratching their itch really shows how low people can go.

The outfits that run these machines should be ashamed of themselves.

Matt69 said :

Really? Who cares how others choose to waste their money, I certainly don’t. There heaps of ways of throwing money down the drain – grog, ciggies, junk food, Justin Beiber – who cares. If you don’t like pokies, don’t play them. They have nothing to do with a person’s IQ.

When they are taking food and clothes away from kids then everyone should care.

If that’s the issue, I would be more worried about grog. There are heaps of bad parents out there, always will be. Sorry, but until you need a licence to be a parent, these things will happen. I’m not saying it’s a good situation, but you can’t, and shouldn’t try to control every aspect of adult life. What do you do, ban all forms of gambling? Ever had a flutter on the Melbourne Cup?

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd12:48 pm 23 Mar 13

Matt69 said :

Really? Who cares how others choose to waste their money, I certainly don’t. There heaps of ways of throwing money down the drain – grog, ciggies, junk food, Justin Beiber – who cares. If you don’t like pokies, don’t play them. They have nothing to do with a person’s IQ.

When they are taking food and clothes away from kids then everyone should care.

Has anyone ever seen a pokie with headphones?

No they are a test for ADHD. If you’ve been encouraged to try it (maybe to kill a few minutes or because your friends were having a go) and found yourself so exasperatingly NOT entertained that you deliberately chose the biggest bets and pressed any old button at random to just sacrifice your $5 and get away from this tedious, repetitive task…

Well, like me, you might have a problem there.

Sitting around is bad enough, but sitting in front of that awful Mario music with just a handful of buttons to press? I wanted to tear my hair out!

Really? Who cares how others choose to waste their money, I certainly don’t. There heaps of ways of throwing money down the drain – grog, ciggies, junk food, Justin Beiber – who cares. If you don’t like pokies, don’t play them. They have nothing to do with a person’s IQ.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd8:27 am 23 Mar 13

Well it’s one step closer at least.

Why not just ban them?

Oh right they’re actually there to measure IQ 😛

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