Australians are the biggest Gamblers in the World,
Helen Sullivan, The Observer, 8 SEPT 2024
The reason…. Slot Machines or as we call them here in Oz, Poker MachineS or simply:
The Pokies.
As for Slot Machines maths:
Welcome to a lose lose date with the Pokies
Australia is home to a fifth of the world’s slot machines
According to Tom Vanderbilt in The Guardian ( Slot machines: a lose lose situation, 8 JUN 2013)
Once seen as a harmless diversion, hi-tech slot machines now bring in more money than casinos – and their players become addicted three times faster than other gamblers.
Here’s how the math works:
In Australia pokie machines must return between
85%
and
90%
of money gambled.
But here is the catch. If you start out with $300 that means, surely, you’ll go home with$270 in your pocket less some for the big payouts.
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
According to ex-gambler Tom Cummings you’ll probably go home with
NOTHING!
WHY?
In his article, Poker machine maths, (ABC, The Drum, 27 MAY 2011) it is not unusual for someone to start with $300 but put $3,000 into the machine over 4 – 5 hours.
They put their winnings back into the machine over and over.
Here’s the sting.
According to the poker machine, $3,000 was gambled, and $300 was kept (by the slot machine). That means that the machine paid out $2,700… which is the 90 per cent return.
But the player ends up with $ZERO!
IT’S ALL GONE BACK INTO THE MACHINE.
That’s one pension cheque gone for the week.
Warren Buffett has called
gambling in general a
“tax on stupidity”
Mathspig Blog 