Gambling

The wowsers are convinced that the convention centre-for-pokies deal will increase the number of pokies by 230, and that these things are springing up everywhere, sucking in innocent bystanders and hoovering out their wallets. The reality is very different – the Dept of Internal Affairs has operated a sinking lid policy for over 10 years, and in fact has reduced the number of pokies over the whole country.

In Auckland alone, the biggest market by far, the number of pokies has reduced by 40% in 9 years. Here are the figures:   Read more »

Years back, when Labour and the Left had a half-way credible claim to represent the interest of workers, they were the people that supported a good family life; beer that wasn’t too expensive, an affordable smoke, and the right to have a bet at the TAB.

Today, the Left, be it the mad Green Taliban or the weak-kneed light-bulb-banning Labour mob, demand that everyone lives the righteous mung-bean eating life of a hemp-clad hippie.   Their way or no way.   What happened?

Australian commentator and University Professor Greg Melleuish identified the trend some time back in Australia:  the return of the Wowser, the obnoxious, controlling zealot who sees your pleasure and freedom as a sin.   And today they are not religious fanatics, they are Green and Left politicians:

WHEN we survey some of the more controversial incidents of recent times, from the attempts to place restrictions on poker machine players to the suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia, there is a connecting thread that almost everyone has missed. This is the return of the wowser.

…

Wowsers want to improve people and make them better. To do so they have to prevent them from engaging in activities that they find immoral: be it gambling, eating meat, drinking alcohol, smoking or consuming junk food.

My father used to say that for such people if you were enjoying yourself there must be sin involved.  Read more »

John Key and Steven Joyce have done the deal of the decade. They have convinced a private company, SkyCity, to front all of the $402M costs for a new convention centre for Auckland for the addition of just 230 new pokie machines in the casino.

Job done, making shit happen.

Details of the controversial SkyCity convention centre deal with the Government have been announced this morning – and the listed casino operator will pay $402m for the new centre.

The centre is expected to generate $90m of revenue each year. SkyCity will meet the full cost and be allowed to have 230 extra poker machines. Its exclusive license will be extended to 2048.

Known as the New Zealand International Convention Centre, the new centre will cost $315 million to build and fit-out, while the land will be worth $87m.

Construction on the centre is expected to begin in 2014 and open in mid to late 2017. It will cater for 3500 international conference delegates at any one time and attract an estimated 33,000 more delegates each year.  Read more »

John Key has bet David Cameron that he can push gay marriage through parliament first.

Both countries are currently debating in the parliament about gay marriage and it looks like John Key has the edge with the law looking set to pass on April 17.

When I spoke to John Key about the startling revelation that he had bet David Cameron he can push through the legislation before Cameron could he said “The rumours are true, I’ve bet £50,000 against David. I reckon we can get it through before him.”

When queried about the amount he added “If David Shearer can have an offshore bank account I don’t see why I can’t have one too, so I decided to set the bet at £50,000  to ensure I’m over the threshold” and “You’ll know that i’ve won the bet when I announce to the press gallery I just discovered a British bank account with around $NZ90,000 in it and have amended the pecuniary interests register accordingly.”  Read more »

I see the NZ Herald has continued their crusade against Auckland’s largest private employer and ratepayer, claiming that nearly 100 kids have been fond roaming the casino over the past year. Apparently this proves that problem gambling is growing, when all it really shows is that poor parenting is growing.

Nearly 100 children were found wandering by themselves in SkyCity last year, show new statistics which anti-gambling advocates say prove problem gambling is a growing issue.

In most cases, the adults responsible for the children were found in the main gaming floor on pokie machines or at a table game.

Figures released by the Department of Internal Affairs under the Official Information Act show there were 64 incidents of “unattended children” last year, involving 96 children. In 2009, just 19 such incidents were recorded.

Just over half the children were aged between 10 and 14, with one-third between the ages of six and nine. The rest were younger than 4.

The police were called in some cases, including when a couple left five children locked in a van in the basement carpark for 45 minutes while they gambled.  Read more »

Wonders will never cease…some common sense.

A man who won $338 million in Powerball in the US can’t claim the cash just yet.

Pedro Quezada has to pay off a $29,000 debt in child support first.

The 45 year-old has gone into hiding since winning the jackpot.

Bet it would never happen here though.

Stuff reports

A school deputy principal who pawned a school laptop to fuel her gambling addiction has been censured by the Teachers Council.

The intermediate school teacher, who was not named in the decision, blamed her gambling addiction and grief over the death of her father for the 2008 theft.

The unidentified school did not know she had pawned off the laptop for money until two years later when she was asked to return it for IT purposes.

She then lied to her principal, saying the laptop had been stolen from her car.

Gambling, stealing, lying to an employer about theft and gambling, it’s another high quality teacher protected by the PPTA and the Teachers Council to continue her gambling fueled rampage.   Read more »

So David Shearer reckons that;

“I object to the deal because, frankly, it’s building a convention centre on the backs of problem gamblers. It’s ultimately pulling money out of people’s pockets because they’re gambling and putting it into a convention centre. I think we could be above that in New Zealand.”

Does he know where local sports clubs and community groups get their funding from?  Read more »

I don’t normally do press releases, but this one seemed of interest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Due to a sudden change in market conditions precipitated by the change in gambling patterns in key revenue areas, specifically related to the East Coast, Hamilton and Wellington regions, the TAB now revises it’s 1st Quarter 2013 revenue outlook down by 20%.

— ENDS —

No I’m not talking about voting Green, I am talking about internet gambling.

Peter FitzSimons explains how online betting agencies filter out winners:

For some extraordinary reason, internet bookies are allowed to refuse and restrict bets from punters who are too damn smart, relying on their fine print terms and conditions. Interestingly, I am told the two bookmakers who are most ubiquitous in their advertising, Tom Waterhouse and bet365, are among the “bookmakers that continuously come up in forums for closing down punters”. But it’s not just them! The practice is so widespread, apparently, that one crowd, Pinnacle Sports, even advertises “winners are welcome”, as their point of difference, while NSW TAB and Betfair, which is a betting exchange – whatever that is – is also said to give punters more of a fair go. However, for most of the rest, those who regularly win, across as few as five to 10 bets are apparently known as “toughies” and players who have won a set amount, (usually as little as $1000), are often either refused bets or limited to small wagers of $5 to $10.

Hmm…if they filter out the winners who does that leave?

What it boils down to is this. Any time anyone tells you they’re punting with internet bookies it – by definition – confirms them as a loser, because the bulk of the bookies will only take bets from new losers, established losers and yet-to-be-confirmed losers. They don’t want winners of any description. No joke, those emails confirm what I have long thought – the whole gambling industry is little more than organised fleecing of seriously stupid people. And the bulk of sports followers are sick to death of the internet bookies getting in our faces every time we want to follow sport.

I have long said that cigarettes, gambling, drugs etc are a tax on stupid people…and this certainly seems to prove my point.