A recent survey has revealed that a large portion of Australian residents support the idea of implementing pokie reform across the country. Despite ongoing protests from Clubs and gaming operators, residents believe that imposing mandatory precommitment on poker machine is the right idea. Liberal Michael Turnbull created a webpoll, which surveyed over 7000 Australians.
With the obvious opposition from Australian clubs, you would think that residents have been convinced gambling reform is a bad idea, but that simply is not the case. Instead, the survey revealed that over 60% of Australians support pokie reform and they believe that it would help reduce problem gambling rates across the country.
As you would expect, respondents that do not support reform are residents who take part in gambling activities on a regular basis. Occasional gamblers and those who refrain from gambling altogether seem to be very supportive of the idea. Residents also believe that the government should spend more money on preventative measures concerning problem gambling.
One issue seems to be that of counselling and education, on which Australians believe the government should be spending more money. These measures also help to address the mental issues at the root of gambling addiction, and would certainly help to curb problem gambling.