The brochure says:

‘You can qualify for free parking when you play table games, gaming machines or dine at any Conrad Treasury restaurant… You can qualify for a rebate when you use public transport to visit Conrad Treasury and play table games or gaming machines… Help yourself to up to two drinks a day from our Refreshment Centres when you earn 20 bonus cents within a three month period.’

The brochure notes that Silver members receive six drinks per day, while Gold members enjoy eight drinks per day in the special Gold Suite lounge. Members can earn table complimentaries. Floor managers can hand out special gifts that include free breakfast, or vouchers which can be used for food, drinks, merchandise, parking, or accommodation. Members can earn bonus dollars when they play gaming machines, and these can be redeemed for cash. Special promotions and tournaments offer exclusive cash and prizes.

There are members-only discounts at restaurants, plus $6 member meals. Not to mention savings on accommodation, plus a range of other offers, vouchers, free meals, and goodness knows what else if you reach Platinum Status!

Here’s something from which every company can learn: Conrad says, ‘When you have agreed to the terms and conditions by signing overleaf you will be issued with your Casino Rewards card on the spot!’ Isn’t that brilliant. Free, fast, easy, and on the spot. And you earn rewards straight away. Rewards that are useful and attractive.

My friend and I (we attended purely for research purposes) had a meal at Cafe21. The food was excellent, and well presented. The bill came to over $100. Had we have been members, I guess the meal would have been free, or a quarter the price. This is an example of the saving. A Reef & Beef Fillet Steak, topped with garlic prawns, chips and salad, with a glass of house wine retails at $25.90 for non-members, yet is only $9.90 for Platinum, Gold, and Club Conrad members.

The logic of the promotions is brilliant. Yet I wondered how that related to the company’s advertising and promotions guidelines that are part of the Queensland Responsible Gambling Advertising and Promotions guidelines.

Why were the guidelines introduced? A week earlier, I met a man at Jupiters Townsville who had lost everything to gambling. It was his stupid fault. One cannot blame the casino. Yet, why does the casino speak about responsible gambling? As a marketing enterprise, the casino scores full marks. As an allegedly responsible venue, I am not sure that it is doing the right thing. Sending out free meal vouchers has only one purpose: to bring the poor stupid sod back into the lure of the sights and sounds of the casino complex, and we know what that’s designed to do. In the words of the casino, ‘There is nothing like the sound of the gaming machine floor in action. With an energetic crowd and electric atmosphere this is the heart of the casino.’

For these reasons, I would suggest that if Conrad is indeed following the guidelines, then whoever drafted the advertising and promotions guidelines did not know what they were doing. Lip-service all over again. What a waste of effort. If you are trying to solve a problem, then solve it. If you are trying to spin stories, then shame on you all. One of the guidelines says that staff will not pressure gamblers who have indicated that they wish to stop playing. But there is nothing in the guidelines to suggest that the client will be sent home in a taxi. And nothing to stop the pit manager from giving that gambler a free meal and a free room at the hotel.

I love the line that said that a gambler who wins a large amount can ask for the money to be presented in the form of a cheque. This, devised as some charitable act to help the gamble to cool off, is supposedly good for the gambler. The cheque would have to be taken to a bank, and this takes the temptation away from the gambler injecting the winnings all over again during an early morning gambling frenzy. Alas, the cheque would only be issued if it is asked for. I do not know any problem-gambler (and I know enough for multiple PhD theses) who would voluntarily ask for a cheque. Play-on is the mantra of troubled problem-gamblers who lose their head and bet over it.

And one more thing: If a casino really really really wanted to be responsible, it would never allow anyone on the floor who has the tiniest drop of alcohol in their blood. Alcohol clouds judgement. If you really want to be responsible, then the casino ought to be alcohol-free, with breathalysers at each entry point.

Then again, casinos are doing a great job. It’s the mugs who are to blame, along with a society that now glorifies gambling with TV poker games that are disgraceful and an inditement upon any TV network. Not to mention the socially corrupt concept of Celebrity TV poker championships. Ok, people can do what they want. Fine. But don’t spin the ‘responsible’ casino rubbish.

Well done, and nothing wrong with that. Tabcorp is one of the world’s largest gambling companies.

It struck me that on its website, in the ‘about us’ section, the very first sentence starts, ‘Tabcorp is a successful, diversified and responsible organisation…’

I fear that the company over-emphases its word ‘responsible’. A crude search on its site shows that the word appears 66 times. A search for the word ‘leadership’ returns 24 hits, as does the word ‘profit’.

So, with a fixation on the word ‘responsible’ and a statement in the section about ‘Integrity’ saying, ‘We take our obligations seriously – not paying lip service to compliance’, I was keen to understand what the company meant when it said (in its brochures called ‘Responsible gambling’ which it places throughout its properties and next to all ATMs), ‘The odds of winning are incorporated in all of our gaming Guides.’

Incidentally, the brochures also stated something fundamentally true, and which all gamblers would do well to understand: ‘Gambling should not be seen as a means of financial betterment. All casinos maintain a favourable percentage in all gambling products offered.’

However, although gambling addiction is a super-mega-complex problem, and one that manifests differently for each person, one of the problems in my opinion has been the ignorance of gamblers. They simply do not understand the laws of probability. Their mathematical skills are abysmal. Many of the problem gamblers whom I happen to know are talented in some areas of their life, and completely ignorant when it comes to the odds of winning.

Therefore, it piqued my interest to read that Tabcorp incorporates the odds of winning in all its gaming Guides. And for this reason, I visited two of its four casinos and obtained a copy of each of the gaming guides to see if the odds of winning are made clear to patrons and gamblers. So let’s review these here.

The Keno brochure is the only one that came close to making any sense. It stated, ‘Your chance to win the 10 Number Jackpot is 1 in 8,911,711…’ I wonder if players truly understood what this means. This is approximately the population of Queensland and Victoria, combined! Every woman, man, and child. So imagine this scenario: Give me one dollar, and you could win one million dollars, but you had to walk up to one person and tap them on the shoulder. You can pick any person you like. You have nine million to choose from. I would have combed the length and breadth of Queensland and Victoria, and gone into every school and every shopping centre and visited the young and old in every street in every suburb. And having visited every farm and every house and every pub and very hospital, I would have silently eyed out a person whom I would declare the winner. No one will know who I picked. And no one would know where I had travelled. On a piece of paper in my pocket is the person who I would have selected as being the star. All you have to do is roam the length and breadth of the entire two states in search of a person to tap on the shoulder. All you have to do is tap one person on the shoulder, and if it the person that I had chosen as the star, then you win a million dollars. Now tell me this: in your wildest dreams, do you think that you can travel the highways and the byways of these two vast states and pick one person who happened to be the very person that I had secretly selected? If a gambler can understand these odds, they will begin to understand that ‘gambling for fun’ is one thing, but gambling with an earnest desire to win, is really far fetched.

Indeed, each month, millions of dollars are handed out to Keno winners. Of course people win, at random, by pure chance, and yes, maybe one day you could be the lucky winner. But what they don’t tell you is how much was lost. The Keno website shows that for the month of September, $51,500,033 had been won. But how many people played? How much money did they spend. You can say, wow, $51 million was won, but how much was spent, by how many people, over how many games? And a true-blue gambler would say, I don’t care, I want to play because one day, I might win. But how many people shared in that $51 million. Was it ten people or a million people? And of all those people who shared this $51 million, how much had they sunk into the game over their lifetime before they won a prize large enough to satisfy their fantasy?

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), ‘The total net takings from gambling during 2004-05 was $15,459,700,000.’

For the same period, the ABS reported, ‘Revenue paid to government in gambling/gaming taxes and levies was $5,633,000,000.’

Interestingly, it said that ‘at the end of June 2005, there were 199,930 poker/gaming machines for which licences had been issued…’

It reported that ‘at the end of June 2005, there were 76,848 persons employed in the provision of gambling services.’

So, it’s all good for the economy. But let’s go back to the odds of winning. Would you give me one dollar, and go in search of one person in Queensland or Victoria whom I might have selected as the star person? If you can’t wrap your mind around the sheer quantity of nine million people, then think about it this way. The average notebook computer might have a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels (picture elements). Come closer to your LCD computer screen (you might need a magnifying glass) and see if you can spot one pixel. This full stop ‘ . ‘ might well comprise four pixels. So split it into four. The whole screen would contain 786,432 pixels. So imagine 11 computers scattered around your room. I would have selected just one of the nine million pixels. Your job would be to just go and point to one of the pixels on any one of the 11 computers. What are your ‘chances’ of winning? This becomes a mathematic question. So let’s remove maths out of it and ask you, what is the likelihood of you winning?

Ok, you now understand the odds. And if you still wish to play Keno, that’s fine. But let’s look at how the casino meets its responsibility and helps its patrons to understand their odds of winning when playing other games.

Here we are told that the house margin is always the same at 2.7%. Is it the responsible thing to do, to speak in terms that most people would not understand. If I were to go to the casino and select players at random, what are the chances of any of them telling me what is meant by this 2.7%? This brochure is designed to help patrons to learn how to play, and to advise them of their odds of winning. The brochure does an okay job at explaining the game, but how well does it meet its promise of being responsible? Is this really a sensible way of advising gamblers about their odds of winning?

How does this help a player to understand the odds of winning? What is meant by, ‘The house margin for Blackjack is generally less than 0.5% for skilled players? How many gamblers can explain this? The brochure was printed to assist gamblers to understand their odds of winning. How many players are considered ‘skilled’. What does ‘generally’ mean? Here are the odd for some of the other games:

STUD POKER: ‘The house margin for Caribbean Stud Poker is about 5.5%, which includes and allowance for the jackpot.’
What does the word ‘about’ signify? And what does the allowance mean in relation to the gambler? Does 5.5% ‘include’ the allowance, or do they mean that it excludes some money (by taking it away from your side of the bargain) to fund a jackpot? Most unclear.

MINI BACCARAT: ‘The house margin for Mini Baccarat is approximately 1.2%.’
Now we see the word ‘approximately’. Is that an average, or really an approximation? In reality, it does not matter. The question is, how responsible is it to say that the casino complies with regulations and guidelines, when it does not really assist its gamblers to understand what hope they have of winning?

WHEEL: ‘The house margin is 7.7% for all symbols and cannot be reduced.’
Why emphasis that it cannot be reduced? Are the other games sometimes reduced? It’s just that this statement is not mentioned in relation to other games, so what can we assume. What is it emphasising?

MINI DICE: ‘The house margin for mini dice is 3.7% and cannot be changed.’
The Wheel’s margin cannot be reduced. Yet this cannot be changed? What’s the difference? Is there a difference? If not; why the sloppy language? If there is a difference, then why the sneaky language?

SIC BO: ‘House margins for each type of bet vary from 2.8% (big, small or combinations of two dice) to 16.2% for a specific triple. Sic Bo is a game of chance so there are no betting strategies to reduce these margins.’
Is Mini Dice not also a game of chance? If so, why is this statement not also made for Mini Dice?

TREASURY 21 / JUPITERS PONTOON (Spanish Blackjack): ‘The house margin for Treasury 21 is generally 1.25%.’
My goodness. Most people cannot comprehend what the point-2 in 1.2 means. Now we expect the patrons to understand what .25 means? Not on your life.

I find it bemusing that this game allows the player to purchase insurance. I wonder what innovative ideas might spring from this. Imagine an insurance company offering overall cover for gamblers, perhaps akin to travel insurance. For the life of me, I have never understood travel insurance. Hence, I have never taken any. I think I did once, and was let down badly by the fine print. Every now and then I read the policy when an airline offers it to me when making an on-line booking. I just cannot work out under which situation I can claim? The limitations and permutations and convolutions make my eyes glaze over.

THREE CARD POKER: ‘The house margin for Three Card Poker is about 2.01% for skilled players.’
What on earth is the significance of the 0.01% when the preceding word is ‘about’. If it is about 2.01% then surely it would be correct to say ‘about 2%’. Please!

MACHINES: The two casinos I visited, the Conrad Jupiters and Conrad Treasury together have 1300 gaming machines. Imagine the floor space. A machine that offers a prize if the player can receive 5 of the same kind of symbol (5 of a kind) is said to offer one chance in 9,765,625 of the 5-of-a-kind combination happening on a single play line. That’s the population of Sweden. Imagine if every human in Sweden had a personal phone. Their numbers start at 1. And someone’s number is 15, and someone’s number 12823, all the way up to 9,765,625. You have one shot at dialling a number; any number from one to 9,765,625, and if you are lucky, you will dial the one chosen person in Sweden who can take your call and say, ‘Yes, you have won’. Mind you, I am not sure what you win. The brochure does not tell us what we can win if we obtain 5-of-a-kind. So, knowing this about the phone numbers, what do you think your chances are of winning?

Incidentally, I wonder why these brochures are not translated into other languages? What are the demographics of patrons? Never mind their mathematics skills. Tell me about their English language skills. How many could read these brochures? For a multi-billion dollar industry that relies upon tourists and foreigners and the ethnic types, why is this information not in any other language?

Consumers waited decades before products were labelled properly. For a long time, consumers had no idea about the ingredients that were used to manufacture foodstuffs. The use-by date was a recent innovation. With gambling being a devastating social disease that rips families apart, is this the best we can do? By all means, if casinos wishes to argue with me, I would take my hat off to them. Just be sure to tell the government and the community where to go. In other words, don’t pander to regulations and guidelines with nothing more than lip service. If casinos don’t agree that they have a duty to society and a corporate social responsibility, then they are entitled to their opinion. But just stop publishing responsibility crap!

On page seven was a statement that said that the casino has numerous financial policies and procedures in place to assist customers in maintaining responsible gambling practices. The first point said, ‘ATMs are not provided within gambling areas.’

In most of my books, I refer to a range of addictions, including gambling. I have a particular fear of the powers of gambling-addiction, having known many people whose lives have been completely and utterly ruined by this disease. I have studied gambling and its grip for twenty years. For this reason, my eyes are drawn to anything about the subject, whether it be about casinos, horse racing, or scratch cards.

Obviously, casinos are aware of the problems. So much so that a brochure of this kind, with warnings and advice, are placed on every floor of the hotel, as well as within the casino area. Other brochures and pocket-sized leaflets proffer advice, along with the phone numbers for the 24-hour free and confidential Gambling Helpline.

I am not sure which committee or government department helped to draft the code of conduct. I don’t know who suggested that ATMs should not be within gambling areas? Was this a genuine recommendation based on research? Or it is a hollow gesture? The said brochure said, ‘[our] Casinos… are committed to best practice in the provision of responsible gambling, within the aim of minimising the potential harm to individuals in the community through Responsible Gambling Practices.’

Tabcorp’s website, under the heading of integrity, lists ten key compliance practices to which the Board is committed. At number seven, it says, ‘We take our obligations seriously – not paying lip service to compliance.’

The words ‘committed’ and ‘best’ and ‘responsible’ and ‘minimising’ and ‘responsible’ are serious words. If a casino is indeed committed, it would take the matter more seriously. I say this because there were three ATM machines within spitting distance. Upon entering the foyer of the hotel, one could turn left and take ten steps to reach the ATMs, or turn right and take thirteen steps to reach the casino area. A child could throw a ball from one extreme end to the other. That’s 23 steps from the gaming area to the ATMs. This is hardly a hindrance to any gambler who is gripped by the flashing lights and the lure of the millions.

Here is a photo of the three ATMs, and you can see the casino at the far end. Now I do not blame the casinos one way or the other. They have a business to run. They are in the business of making money, and that is their business. I do not mind that they have ATMs there. However, I object to their hollow statements. In all my writing, my readers would know by now that I abhor rhetoric. Don’t say that you are committed to minising harm etc, if you are not committed. And if you are committed, and you know that providing ATMs is harmful, then don’t provide any. On the other hand, if a casino is merely following the laws of the land, and is placing the ATMs exactly where they need to be in terms of the rules and regulations, then that’s fine too, but don’t print glorious brochures containing motherhood statements. Just say that we comply with the law, and the law states that ATMs should be 23 steps away, and that’s what we have done, and if you don’t like it, don’t come it. A casino is not part of the nanny state. It has a right to exist. In which case, just exist and brazenly call it like it is. Do not pretend to care for the people and the devastated families. If a person wants to be so stupid as to throw their money to the wind, then so be it. It’s a disgrace when humans have no control over their actions. I’m not blaming the casinos. I am simply challenging their ethics in terms of truth. Don’t make out that you care when you clearly don’t. And if in fact a casino did understand the horror of living within a household where one of the parents is a gambler, then that casino would not have any ATMs whatsoever. Not that this would stop a gamble in any way whatsoever. A walk up the road to a local store will provide an ATM. Besides, serious gambles with serious problems do not have any funds in ATMs. They rely on stealing, lying and cheating.

I met a young at this casino. He told me that he had lost his business and all his money to gambling. He and his mate had thought that they had found a clever way to make money. Their system worked for the first three days, and thereafter, for months to come, they could not win. All the while, they were sure that it was all due to their bad decisions, as opposed to the nature of the beast. He insisted that it was possible to make a living out of gambling, so he sold his tools, then his truck then anything else that he could liquidate, and now he had nothing. He had to live with his mother because he could not support himself. ‘Why are you here at the casino now?’ I asked. He said that he receives vouchers for free three-course meals. He said that the other casino down the coast, offers him so many free meals that he could dine there every day, if he lived down south. He came for the free meal, and while there, he tries his luck with $25. That’s his psychological limit. His internal excuse for still gambling is, ‘…to win back what they owe me. I am not going to let them get away with it.’ That’s a long and sad story.

During our conversation, I mentioned these ATMs to him, and he laughed. He said, ‘There is an ATM inside the casino gaming area!’ I could not believe it. Indeed there was. As you go down to wards the casino, past the security guard at the door, there are three steps down onto the gambling floor. Turn right, and you see a cafeteria that offers great meals. That cafeteria is two steps away from the gambling tables. Buy a meal, pay for it (at a great discount (less than 50% off) if you are a member (and it is free to become a member) and sit and eat your meal at any of the tables that are within spitting distance of the gambling tables. And five steps away, around a corner, you will see an ATM.

Yep, I had to go back the next day, just to take this photo. I ordered a fruit salad and sat at one of the white tables. My camera was placed on the table, hence the white blur at the base of each photo. The first shows the ATM that his hidden in the corner, only seconds away from the gambling floor. I swivelled my camera to the left, and you can see the lady at the poker machine. I smudged the photo so as to provide her with privacy.

Now I ask you, how can the casino say that ATMs are not provided within the gambling area? Is this a technicality? Is the gambling area defined as within arms reach from the roulette wheel? Now be fair!

By the way, after taking the shots of the three blue ATMs shown above, I noticed that a transaction receipt had been left behind, sticking put of the slot. Of course, that’s no big deal, because the three large chrome bins next to each ATM contained dozens of receipts. But this one, sticking out, was an ominous invitation. So I pulled it out, and here it is. The user had withdrawn $500, and had no funds left. The available balance was zero. Luckily, the person had had a cheque that had not cleared. Otherwise, I would have bet that the person would have dipped into that as well. I found it interesting that the back of each ATM receipt says, ‘Is gambling a problem for you?’ and then it lists the gambling helpline 1800 number. If the back sof ATM receipts were known to work, the space would have been sold to advertisers.

The photo on the left is of the ATMs at Crown Casino in Melbourne. The machines are seconds away from the gaming floor. The photo below is of the ATMs at Conrad Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast. These ATMs are also seconds away from the gaming floor. So who are we kidding? Why not save all this effort and just place them at every gaming table. Swipe your card and be done with it.