Popular Pokies Nudge Youth’ Cool-o-meter

26/11/06 Sunshine Coast Daily by PETER GARDINER

PENSIONERS are being squeezed out of the poker machine gaming rooms around the Sunshine Coast by the hip iPod generation.

A new South Australian survey has found that playing the pokies is the new cool among 18 to 24-year-olds, with more than 50% having chanced their hand on the machines last year, 20% more than the state average.

Relationships Australia gambling counsellor Neil Mellor said the same sort of youthful gambling trend was showing up on the Coast.

This was supported anecdotally by people the Sunshine Coast Daily spoke with who said the clubs they liked to attend on Friday and Saturday nights were filling up with a younger generation having a punt on the pokies.

Jenna Lowe, 23, of Noosa enjoys a flutter on the pokies once every couple of weeks.

"It's something to do on a Friday," Jenna said.

She first was introduced to playing poker machines while working in the hospitality industry but does not over-feed the machines, calling it quits after losing $20.

Unfortunately for Jenna, who is not involved in any other form of gambling, she has not had a big pay day.

While playing the pokies remained an enjoyable pursuit for most young people, Mr Mellor and his fellow counsellors were identifying a growing band of problem gamblers aged 18 to 24.

In the past five years, the age group's representation among Relationships Australia's problem gambling clients rose from 8% to 12%.

The South Australian government survey also found 16-17-year-olds were gambling on scratch-its.

But on the Coast, a significant number of cases show underage people are being introduced to gambling by their parents via Keno.

"They are filling out Keno cards and their parents in some cases are placing bets for them," Mr Mellor said.

"We know of people who have taken out $20,000 loans to buy cars and have blown the lot on gambling.

"We have identified that there is a problem with young people and heavy gambling and it is made worse if they get access to credit."

Mr Mellor said that young people were vulnerable to losing track of how much credit they were chewing up.

He said licensed venues were a popular place to socialise, but research had proven that the more people drank, the more they were likely to gamble.

Popular culture was also encouraging gambling, with television shows sparking a huge interest in poker games, Mr Mellor said.

He said local schools had a responsible gambling kit for students while Relationships Australia was working with apprentices on the Coast to ensure they did not gamble excessively.

A Tewantin-Noosa Club spokesman yesterday said he had not noticed any surge in younger people playing the pokies, while a Clubs Queensland spokesperson said they did not have any data to support the trend.

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