A nation of punters
So a galloper called Alcopop stands a good chance of running away with the Melbourne Cup. Talk about a journalistic gift-horse: the love of gambling and the love of booze all in one, and the opportunity, on this highest of high holy days, for a blog that sums up the nation.
Alas, with Australia slipping down the global drink league table, the boozy stereotype doesn't really fit anymore. So how about the long-held view that Australia is a nation of punters?
On that front, it's surely guilty as charged if the latest figures from the Productivity Commission (who came up with that name? Wollemi, please help) are to be believed. Last year, they showed that three-quarters of Australians had some kind of flutter, whether it was having a punt on the horses, buying a state lottery ticket or dropping a few dollars in a "pokie" machine (Australian slang for a one-arm bandit). Admittedly, these numbers are swelled by once-a-year gamblers like myself, whose annual trek to the bookies comes on Melbourne Cup Day. But they're high nonetheless.
Between 2006-2007, Australians lost $18 billion in gambling - a staggeringly large figure (by way of comparison, the Australian government's recession-busting stimulus package was $42 billion). And according to the Productivity Commission, Australia has 500,000 problem gamblers.
The pokies are one of Australia's great addictions and afflictions. Of the $18 billion lost gambling, $12 billion of that was pumped into the pokies. Of those who play them, 15% are thought to be problem gamblers, and they account for 40% of the losses. By law, the clubs and pubs have to promote responsible gambling, with "health warnings" on the pokies. But some of the mega-clubs are open from ten in the morning until four in the morning, which allows for virtually round-the-clock gambling.
Politicians such as the long-time anti-pokies campaigner, South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, are calling for reforms. He wants to set the maximum bet on the pokies at $1, for instance.
But the problem is that the governments here are as addicted to the pokies as the punters. During the 2006-2007 financial year, Victoria received 13.1% of its revenues from gambling. New South Wales, which is the home of half of the nation's pokies (about 100,000 of them), received 9.4% of its revenues. In Western Australia, the figure is lower because pokies are banned expect in casinos.
So what, if anything, should be done? Russell Crowe failed in his attempt to ban the pokies from his rugby league club, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and the anti-pokie reformers are up against some very powerful vested interests and a very popular pastime.
PS Anyone got a good tip for the Melbourne Cup? Kevin Rudd won with Efficient in 2007, which seemed appropriate...
PPS To follow up on Moresby-Parks' invitation to eat fish and chips on the Sunshine Coast, I would, of course, be delighted. And the same goes for any food-related invites...
UPDATE:
So much for my sentimental bets: the prospect of a 13th Melbourne Cup win for Bart Cummings, the legendary 81-year-old trainer who won his 12th cup last year 43 years after winning his first. Viewed and Roman Emperor were nowhere to be seen, and it was Shocking that galloped to victory (though I did recoup some of my losses on Mourilyan, which came in third). Hope you had more success...
And on the day that a horserace immobilised the nation, the Reserve Bank of Australia tried to arrest inflation. Another rate hike, this time by 25 basis points. It's the first time Australia has seen the cost of borrowing rise in consecutive months since March 2008. Some had predicted a steeper rise, but the bank clearly wants to contain inflation without choking the recovery. Some kind of rate hike was the surest bet on Cup Day. It may well hurt people in the mortgage belt, but you could hardly call it shocking...
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~59~RS~)
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Pssst Nick, I think I know why Aussies are such big gamblers. The clubs and pubs that have the pokies usually have great means at affordable prices. So naturally they draw greater patronige. But then when you've had your meal, what do you do? You can't drink till you drain the bar any more, the breathalyser will get you before you reach your car. Only thing for it, play the pokies. And there's the jist of it.
Of course I haven't as yet come up with a decent excuse as to why we gamble so much on lottery tickets, race horses, dogs, footy, cricket, rain, politics, fly up the wall races etc....but I'm working on it.
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As far as I am aware, Nick, we only have 1 casino in the West (yes, the Packer clan at it again!) which minimizes potential gambling problems considerably.
The assault of pokies is quite noticeable by comparison in the East (where you seem to spend the vast majority of your time and from which 95% of your 'universal' Australian cultural comments on this blog appear to emanate - you should 'get out' more!).
Then again, thanks to our resources wealth, we don't need the gambling income stream for state revenues here in Western Australia - unlike our poorer cousins in the Eastern states...
But - having travelled the globe a fair amount over the past 20 years before settling in Australia ~10 years ago - your general observation is correct: Australians are up there with the Chinese as potential Olympics gambling gold medallists!
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2 jtdhstky: It should be pointed out that the entire west coast of Australia is one state, while the east coast takes in three states and the Australian Capitol Territory. If we had the spattering of population in the east that you have in the west, our combined mineral resources, and other exports, would be more than double for our needs for that which you export. The infrastructure needs on the east coast far outweighs that on the west, and you have American money invested in the known and unknown Bases they have up on the north west.
When the west coast population expands to the degree the east coast has been populated, then I guess such a claim can be make.
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What was a bloke to do in a convict work camp or sundowning on a remote rural property with lowly wages, no women and nothing to do? Gamble and drink - which go together like birds of a feather. Australians didn't invent this indolent pastime, inheriting it from their Irish and English forebears, but the fact that gambling was illegal and therefore, another means of displaying anti-authoritarian attitudes, of course it was indulged in with added fervour. Ironically, those allegedly trying to stamp it out, organised and encouraged gambling so the farm labourers were forever in their debt. Gambling today still has much to do with the underdog view and getting ahead with a little luck. And the Govt has replaced wealthy landowners in encouraging it.
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Interestingly, the race dubbed ‘the race that stops the nation’ in Australia despite the glaring difference that only life in Victoria comes to a standstill is also held in high esteem on this side of the Tasman. A news report earlier today described the Melbourne Cup as ‘the race that stops two nations’, which was highly laughable.
Admittedly, there is a lot of interest from a Kiwi point of view (11 out of the 24 horses hail from the land of the long white cloud), but until we get a bank holiday over here to celebrate (and the same can be said about those who live in NSW, Queensland et al) it should be branded as ‘the race that stops a state’.
Anyway, Nick, I have my money on Roman Emperor. I have it on good authority that he is going to do the business.
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I'll never understand gambling, especially against a mechanised opponent that has the sole purpose of making money for it's owners. Added to that, the Pokies, and their Fruit Machine and Slot Machine cousins look both dull and complicated!
I'm not sure that the popularity of such machines really reflects the Australian population of today - it's just that for historical reasons they're everywhere, and as Nick points out the States don't have any incentive to get rid of them.
Nick, you're welcome to join us for some nosh at the Story Bridge Hotel, or maybe we could share some damper somewhere near the French Line in the Simpson (next winter of course).
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It is the race that stops the nation... for as long as it is running.
I still remember working in an (inbound) call centre on the day of the race, and during the running of the race we went down from our approx. 300 calls a minute, to less then 10. Given we covered all of Australia, I think it's a safe thing to say.
If you wanted to be picky, you could call it the race that stops business for a couple of minutes, but it doesn't quite have the same ring to.
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The banks took much more from individual retirement accounts and the call for controls are much less. And the banks didn't even tell you, you were gambling. Seems under current rules the "pokie" at least provides honest odds to the player. We are always trying to save people from themselves and fail every time. Like the proposed carbon emissions tax, once the government gets a source of revenue there is no incentive to change. I'll bet on that.
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I read your blog regularly as I have relatives in Western Australia. I have spent some time visiting that state especially the KImberley Region. There is a disaster developing on the North West Coast in the Timor Sea...The Oil Rig leaking oil since August is now on Fire. This incident does not get the world wide coverage it needs... It will devastate the area and the wildlife is already suffering. Please do your best to keep it on the boil (no pun intended). Peter K ...Rochdale..UK
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Peter Keith - the fire was reported on the BBC and in the New York Times. What else exactly do you want?
It's now out and the well has been killed. Fortunately no people were, although there is still the dangerous job of boarding the burnt-out rig and making it safe. The extent of the environmental damage will only be known once a full survey is done, when it's safe to do so. Meanwhile, there have been daily scare stories from various green spokespeople, based on very little evidence.
Meanwhile the BBC continues in Nick's tradition of misleading Australian sport reporting by describing Chris Judd as a "Rugby league player" in its Melbourne Cup coverage...Shocking! You can see the Crime Scene on the BBC's horse-racing pages
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Australia is both a beautiful country, and a sad country. I am Australian, but have lived and worked abroard for the past 30 years. On my trips home, I am amazed at the level of gambling which is encouraged by the government. I am surprised that there are no poker machines in the airport, or the public tiolets. the casino mogels have tied up with unsavoury gambling empires in both asia and the US. In Australia, even going to buy a local news paper, the biggest part of the paper shop is taken up with gambling paraphanalia. And they are busy, day and night. Children are bombarded with gambling advertisement in a subtle nway so as to ensure they are hooked at an early age.Clubs advertise family friendly shows and cheap meals. Mum dad and kids go out to eat as the club food is cheap. Mum and dad leave the kids to do there thing, while they go off gambling and come back once in a while to see the kids are OK.Australia is a very sick country from what I see in relation to gambling, and this sickness is increasing on a daily basis. The taxes imposed on the population are the second highest in the world, and the government is still imposing a secondary tax through gambling. I truly am shocked every time I go home and witness this terrible government encouraged sickness, and the dreadful harm it is causing the people and the nation as a whole.
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