A gamble that will never pay off

Editorial

Judging by experiences

throughout the Pacific, with regard to casinos, one-armed bandits, and other pokies, the gamble that some island states have taken on gaming has not paid off.

Throughout the region, one thing stands out, rising concern for the social impact of gambling - whether it is misuse of family funds or addiction.

In the region, the concern is justified because in most cases, casinos are in urban centres and locals who gamble do not have a safety net.

Indeed the extended family which used to be the safety net in the past is fast being eroded. Even in places where the law states that locals cannot gamble in casinos, such as the Marshall Islands, experience has shown that the lure of quick riches is too strong to keep them out.

As in Papua New Guinea, locals, and not tourists, end up being the mainstay of the industry at the expense of their liveli hood.

In Australia, various casinos have shown trends where casinos only make money for the first few years of operation when it is still a novelty to “card-sharks” and the curious.

After that, the locals who have become addicted to playing the pokies and “trying their luck” are the ones who end up paying for the wages and profits of the casino owners. Even in Australia where there is a Social Welfare scheme, experience has shown that indulging this habit can be at the expense of children and family stabili ty- The cases of children locked in cars outside casinos and gaming venues in Australia have been alarming over the

years. Parents have been prosecuted, chil dren have been traumatised and family life in these cases, has not been in any way “normal”.

Papua New Guinea has also had cases where children have been left in cars while their parents gamble. In the Cooks, chil dren have been left without supervision while their parents gamble. Some have had no food because their parents hard-earned wages have gone into indulging the habit.

Children, parents and family life in the Pacific are already under threat by increas ing modernisation and the challenges of living in the pre-millennium era. The last thing we all need is another addiction to further erode what little we have left.

The financial case for gambling in no way outweighs the social cost to families, countries and, indeed, the Pacific way of life. ■