The beating heart of many rural towns is the local pub, where families gather for lunches, kids play under the watchful eyes of patrons, locals share stories, and lifelong friendships are cemented. But this community spirit is increasingly replaced by dozens of flashing poker machines.

Poker machines, or “pokies,” now dominate many regional pubs, and the impact has been devastating. In Griffith, a town of just 27,000 people, there are 461 poker machines. This is one machine per 58 people. According to news reports, in the first half of 2020 alone, locals lost more than $20 million to the machines. Pokies have not just reshaped pubs like those Griffiths, they have reshaped the heart of country life itself.

Martin Thomas, CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR), works to prevent gambling harm and is constantly pushing for reforms that protect communities. In Australia, a gambling problem related to pokies is defined as an inability to control gambling behaviour on poker machines.

“The negative impact pokies have on rural towns is undeniable,” he tells upstart. “They target vulnerable people and drain the life out of places that used to be about community, not profit.”

Despite having less than one percent of the world’s population, Australia makes up 18 percent of the world’s pokies machines. Australian Institute of Family Studies data shows that 73 percent of Australian adults gambled at least once in the past 12 months and almost 40 percent gambled at least weekly. But pokies do not benefit everyone equally. Thomas says pokies can create a reliable source of revenue for pubs, but not for their customers.

“It is tragic when a pub lives and dies on the revenue they get from poker machines based on the fact that most people that lose big on poker machines can’t afford to and are in financial trouble,” he says.

The damage runs deeper than financial loss. Thomas says the AGR found people are three times more likely to experience domestic violence if someone in the relationship has a gambling problem, and up to one in five suicides are linked to gambling.

“We know gambling is associated with domestic violence and suicide, and we need to speak about it to help one another,” he says.

Thomas has also found that for every one person that gambles, six people are negatively affected. If the town only has a population of 2000, and 200 people casually gamble, that number spreads very quickly.

But in one small Aussie town, pokies haven’t taken over. In Rankins Springs, a remote speck in regional New South Wales with just 173 people, Jonathan Streat runs the Conapaira Hotel, a venue with no poker machines. Streat has always prioritised creating a family-friendly environment, a value he holds dear from his own experiences in rural communities and continues to run a pokies-free pub to keep the focus on fostering local connections.

“In a small, family-oriented town like this, you don’t want blokes putting their family’s money through machines,” he tells upstart. “I reckon it just isn’t worth it when you see what it does to people.”

When he was younger, Streat worked at the Conapaira Hotel. Back then, it did have machines. Now, not having pokies is nonnegotiable. Running the pub is easier without it, too. There are no restrictions with kids, so they can play freely. He says people often mention to him how lucky the town is because they do not have pokies.

For Streat, it’s not about sacrificing profits but about preserving the community aspect. He believes the harm caused by poker machines is reason enough to keep them out of his town.

“The big places with machines don’t care who’s putting money through them. It’s just about turnover,” he says.

Even if he were to consider having a machine, the cost alone would be prohibitive. Streat says that the licence costs around $300,000 and the machines $150,000, which is worth more than the pub itself.

Instead, at the Conapaira Hotel, the focus is on creating social events at the hotel, such as trivia nights, live music, fundraiser events, and raffles.

“Last year we had 300 locals turn up for a fundraiser for a man who lost his wife,” Streat says. “We raised 50 grand on the night, and not one person thought about needing pokies.”

So, what is the answer to Australia’s pokies problem, especially in towns like Griffith? Thomas and the AGR argue that the answer to the problems pokies cause is a government-issued cashless card where you can set a deposit limit for the week.

“We believe governments need to do more to protect people, and we are an advocate for the cashless card,” he says. “With a cashless card, you preset limits before you bet; you say, ‘I’m happy to lose $100 a week,’ and once you’ve lost that $100, you are locked out.”

Thomas says that if the cashless card is introduced people can then make good rational decisions, not when they are sitting in front of a machine that hypnotises them.

While government reforms like these are crucial to reducing harm, local decisions matter too. At pubs like the Conapaira Hotel, Jonathan Streat shows how removing pokies altogether can rebuild community spirit from the ground up. He also urges other pub owners who are thinking of selling their machines to do so.

“I’d rather have families and mates at the pub than people glued to a machine.”

Article: Charlie Jones is a second-year Bachelor of Arts student at La Trobe University. You can follow him on X at @charliejones63.

Cover Photo: Pokies by Craig Sillitoe found HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has been cropped