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February 8th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda <!–
Clubs NSW are spending the next 12 months rolling out new technology which makes it easier for problem gamblers to exclude themselves from multiple venues. They expect the technology will identify many more problem gamblers and remove obstacles from seeking help for addiction problems.
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TONY EASTLEY: Clubs in Australia have been criticised for dragging the chain on pokie machine reform but they’ve now come up with their own plan to combat problem gambling by widening self exclusion options.
Over the next 12 months all 14,000 clubs in New South Wales will roll out new technology which makes it easier for problem gamblers to ban themselves.
Clubs New South Wales CEO Anthony Ball says it’s a big step forward. He’s speaking to AM’s Simon Santow.
ANTHONY BALL: The problem gambler, having recognised that there is a problem with their gambling either at the club or with their counsellor in the counsellor’s office can exclude themselves using this web-based technology from up to 25 venues.
That means that effectively they are taking themselves out of the gambling environment where they live and perhaps also where they work and that takes away the temptation.
Self-exclusion is a huge deterrent to problem gamblers and that is important.
SIMON SANTOW: How many problem gamblers do you expect will take up this option?
ANTHONY BALL: There would be thousands. I mean there is about 3 or 4,000 people currently self-excluded and as this new system is rolled out, we would expect them to come across. And look, let’s remember that there are relatively few problem gamblers in the scheme of things – less than 1 per cent of the adult population.
So what problem gamblers there are will certainly use this system. Counsellors really appreciate it. It makes their job a whole lot easier. For the problem gambler, you know, the embarrassment and the difficulty associated with self-exclusion is now gone.
SIMON SANTOW: But doesn’t it logically follow then that you will actually have more problem gamblers as a result of this – or more identified problem gamblers – because if there had been barriers to them identifying themselves in the past, you make it easier, surely more will emerge?
ANTHONY BALL: Certainly we want all problem gamblers to get into this system so to that extent, yeah that’s right.
SIMON SANTOW: How many more do you expect will be identified as a result of this new technology?
ANTHONY BALL: Oh look, I can’t put a number on that. Our goal is to ensure that everybody who recognises that they have a problem with gambling can very simply, with their counsellor, exclude themselves from all of the venues that they might attend to gamble. That is really our goal. We haven’t put a number on it.
SIMON SANTOW: How much of a deterrent is it at the moment for problem gamblers that they actually have to go back to a venue and multiple venues in order to exclude themselves?
ANTHONY BALL: Oh, problem gamblers currently do that but all of the feedback from problem gamblers, but also our counsellors, is that they would much prefer to do it at a single point with their counsellor. It would be obviously much quicker and the hurdle is lower.
SIMON SANTOW: So what’s the next thing that you can do?
ANTHONY BALL: Well, certainly we need to get this system rolled out across New South Wales. We are speaking to the hotel industry to extend it into the hotels and then hopefully it can go national.
We are looking at other initiatives around staff training and some other measures – because really our obligation as clubs is to get to people with problems and to get them into treatment, not to encourage them to continue playing poker machines.
SIMON SANTOW: Do you think that historically clubs have underestimated the problems associated with addiction?
ANTHONY BALL: Look, I think that clubs have recognised the issue for a long time now but it is not an easy thing to develop solutions to, and obviously the Australian community has been involved in a pretty hectic debate for the last year and a half about this. There are no easy solutions.
TONY EASTLEY: The CEO of Clubs New South Wales Anthony Ball speaking there to AM’s Simon Santow.
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