Playing The Pokies
The wishlists of six pokies venues in Launceston have been released as part of the Tasmanian Government's upcoming gaming reforms. From allowing ATMs in their venues, to increasing the number of. Playing For Free Before Playing Pokies With Real Money. Apart from being fun to play, free internet pokies are ideal to practice on in preparation for their equivalent real money pokies titles, which are explained in detail on our real money pokies page.The more prepared you are when it comes to playing at real money casinos, the less costly or steep your learning curve will be. Generally, there is nothing complicated when it comes to playing pokies, except just a few rules that are needed to be followed to get you track. In fact, this is one of the reasons pokies is very popular among Australian players because all that’s needed is put a coin in a pokie machine then pull the lever and off you go!
Updated April 26, 2020 20:17:21
The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on so many Australians.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858
- Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
Lives have been lost, jobs and businesses have been wiped out, and individuals have had to come to grips with being isolated from family and friends.
No industry has felt the strain more than pubs, clubs and casinos. From March 23, they had to close their doors at short notice, throwing the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of Australians into turmoil.
But for some Australians these closures have proved a blessing rather than a curse.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform says more than $1 billion has been saved in poker machine losses in the past five weeks.
ABC Investigations has been in contact with hundreds of people affected by problem gambling, and we asked whether coronavirus shutdowns have changed gambling habits.
Many of them have described the past five weeks as one of the most peaceful periods they can remember.
Here are three of their stories.
The mineworker
Corey* is a mineworker from Queensland. He knows too well the pain that a gambling addiction can cause.
Gambling: Tell us your story
ABC Investigations wants your help to find out more about what happens behind the scenes of Australia's gambling industry; to hear from people who have worked inside the industry and those who have lost money. Fill out our tips form here.
His father lost the family home through betting on the horses when Corey was a small boy.
'All these years later, it still causes fights in my family,' he said.
'Knowing my family history, I became a staunch anti-gambler. I'd never even bet on the horses.'
The 29-year-old avoided the issues his father had. Until July last year.
'My father got diagnosed with a form of dementia and I went into a dark place. I started drinking heavily and began to play the pokies.'
The Queenslander had been working hard as a fly-in fly-out mine worker and was saving for a home.
Within two months of taking up the pokies his $25,000 deposit was gone.
'I'd wake up at 10:00am, go to a pub or club, and play the pokies, sometimes until 3:00am.'
He would repeat this pattern during his week off in the city, before flying back to a mining camp to work for two weeks.
After another two months, he sold his prized 4WD for $17,000 to feed his new habit.
Soon that cash windfall was gone. With no money in the bank, and nothing else to sell, he started borrowing money.
By the time the lockdown started Corey owed the banks and same-day lenders close to $20,000.
'COVID-19 has been a blessing for me, with pubs, clubs and casinos closed, I've been completely unable to play the pokies at all,' he said.
He's now putting aside 80 per cent of his income to pay off his loans and feels that he has his gambling under control.
'Since the lockdown started, I created an online gambling account and put $100 into it. I lost that $100 straight away, so I haven't put any money back into it since,' Corey said.
'I'm hoping this is the end of my eight-month gambling habit. It's cost me so much, from my health and happiness, to pushing away friends for the sake of gambling — it's really impacted me on every level and set me way back financially.'
Find out more
The mother
For Sonia, the 58-year-old mother of a pokies addict, the lockdown has been one of the best months of her life.
'It has been a blessing for me and my son because he's suddenly not being tricked, deceived and robbed by the poker machines,' she said.
Sonia's son John* has twice attempted suicide in relation to his gambling addiction.
'We are both experiencing a peace we haven't experienced for over a decade. I'm able to live each day without the constant fear that my son will try to take his life again.'
'He told me that God's answered his prayers with the lockdown, that a heavy weight has been lifted off him and that he feels like he has been set free.'
The 28-year-old has MS and is on disability pension. Sonia says at around 2:00am on a Saturday he goes to a local Sydney pub or club knowing his pension will be in his bank account by then.
'By the time the sun comes up he's lucky if there's anything left in his account,' Sonia said.
Once John blows all his money, Sonia has to make the most awful choice. Does she give him more money to help him get through the week knowing he will probably put it through the pokies?
Invariably she gives in.
'People ask why I give him money. It's because I'm scared that he might commit a crime to pay for his habit,' she said.
'You have to realise the habit overrules normal thinking. Do you know how many people are in jail because of a pokie addiction? I'm scared he could end up in jail.'
Sonia says she's on the verge of losing her house and has borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from the banks and from family to pay for her son's habit.
She says John has self-excluded from hundreds of venues, but they continue to let him in to gamble away his pension and his mother's money.
Sonia says she has used the lockdown to pay back money she's borrowed.
'In the past five weeks I haven't had to give him money. But it's so much more than the money, it's the emotional rollercoaster as well.'
Australia has the highest gambling losses per head of population in the world. Sonia hopes the lockdown will lead to a rethink on poker machine policy.
Over the past 25 years, she has held a number of senior positions in the manufacturing industry, and says that the absence of poker machines is not just good for the families of addicts, but for small business as well.
'Over $6.5 billion is lost to poker machines each year in NSW alone. If this money was spent in small business the economy would thrive and many jobs would be generated.'
Do you know more?
Please fill out the ABC Investigations gambling story tips form, or text message the team via the WhatsApp or Signal mobile apps on 0418 347 462.The small businessman
Andrew runs a small business in rural Queensland.
Much of his work is done on the road, and when he drives into a new town, he finds it difficult not to pass the local pub.
'If I'm driving for work, something in me gets triggered and I will drop into the pub and start putting money through the pokies,' he said.
The businessman finds himself being drawn to something he hates.
'I can't stand the pokies. But I started playing them 20 years ago when I was struggling with anxiety.'
Andrew suffered trauma as a child that led to anxiety in adulthood. In his late teens he started drinking, then playing the pokies, as he tried to deal with his past experiences.
'It terrifies me to think how much I have lost. Outside my food, my rent and my phone bills, I was probably putting around 60 per cent of my income through the machines.'
He says in the past month he's felt more at ease than any other time in the past two decades.
'This isolation has been an absolute godsend. Prior to the pandemic I was still visiting pokie rooms two or three times a week, but in the past five weeks I haven't even thought about pokie machines,' Andrew said.
'Prior to this, my anxiety levels were up and down constantly. Now, I'm so much more relaxed and less anxious.
'Today I had a beer and put $20 on the horses on my phone and I was content with that. Before I could pour $3,000 into the pokies in a couple of hours.'
Andrew is worried about what might happen when the pubs and clubs reopen.
'I do have concerns about what happens down the track, but my hope is that my time away from the pokies has given me strength and gets me to see what life is like without them.'
*Not their real names
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Topics:gambling, clubs-and-associations, hospitality, covid-19, australia, sydney-2000, qld
First posted April 26, 2020 04:47:10
Scan an online casino lobby and you’ll see one type of game that stands hand and shoulders above the rest in terms of quantity and that’s slots. Sometimes known as fruit machines or one-arm bandits, online slots offer the greatest amount of variance in the industry thanks to the thousands of different themes you can access. Indeed, at one end of the spectrum, you’ve got something traditional like 7 Bells with its collection of fruits and bell symbols. At the other end, you’ve got an all-action video slot like Batman that features in-game video clips and clever animations. Then, on top of all this, you’ve got progressive jackpot games where you can win upwards of $1 million from a single spin.
Basically, if you’re in the 🇳🇿 market for high octane action, a variety of different styles and, of course, an easy way to win a lot of money, online slots are perfect. However, as simple as it is to hit the “spin” button, there are a few things you need to know before you ante up. Now, we’re not saying the next few paragraphs are going to contain a myriad of complex information. However, it will cover some basic features and processes you’ll need to understand if you’re going to spin in a win. So, with that in mind, here’s the Casinoslots NZ guide to playing online slots.
Related guides:
Playing The Pokies On Beach
The Buttons 🇳🇿
Although each online slot machine will have its own design and layout, there are some common buttons you’ll find across the genre. Once you’re familiar with the following, you shouldn’t have any problems moving from one game to another and clicking the right options:
Coin Size: This button refers to the size of a single bet. It’s known as a coin because it would have been the value of a single coin needed to start a mechanical slot machine back in the day. When you ante up with us, the coin size will be the amount you’re betting on a single payline.
Coins: After setting your coin size, some online slots will allow you to wager more than one coin per payline. For example, if you set the coin size to $0.10 and the number of coins to 1, you would be risking $0.10 on a single payline. However, if you adjusted the number of coins to 4, you’d be wagering $0.40 per payline.
Paylines: Some online slots allow you to adjust the number of active paylines in play. An active payline runs from left to right, which means that any three (sometimes two) matching symbols starting on the far left of an active payline will unlock a prize. The more paylines you activate, the greater your chances of winning are. However, it’s important to note that you’ll be betting at least one coin per payline. So, the more you activate, the more you’ll pay per spin.
Bet/Spin: This is the button that sets the reels in motion. After you’ve played around with the other options and you’re ready to match some symbols to win a prize, you hit the bet/spin button.
* It’s important to note that online slots will feature some or all of these options, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see every single one of these buttons in play.
The Features
Once you’re spinning your way towards a win, the next thing you need to be aware of is that online slot machines also have special features. Sitting alongside the main payouts, these features basically give you another way to bank a prize. In general, these features are broken down into the following categories and are unlocked by rolling in a certain number of bonus symbols, wilds or scatters:
Free Spins: As the name suggests, a free spins bonus is a feature that will turn the reels without taking money from your balance. During a free spins bonus, you’ll usually receive some form of our wild bonus and/or multipliers (see below).
Wild Bonus: Wild symbols are ones that can substitute for any other symbols in the game. During a standard spin, wilds can be used to create a winning combination. During a bonus round, wilds can expand across certain reels, stick in place or ever turn other symbols into wilds as part of a special feature.
Multipliers: If you roll in a win and a multiplier as part of the mix, you’ll increase your prize. For example, if you’ve activated a bonus round with a 5x multiplier and rolled in a $10 win, you’d actually receive $50.
Mini-Game: Certain slots allow you to play a mini-game as a bonus round. This could be something as simple as choosing whether the next number in a sequence is going to be higher or lower than the last or taking on some sort of arcade-style mini-game. At the end of the mini-game, you’ll have collected a selection of prizes which are then added to your total balance.
The Payouts
The final thing you need to know before you hit the spin button is the payout table. As we’ve said, you can win thousands, even millions, when you bet as little as $0.10 on our top online slots. However, when you read a payout table, that might not always be obvious. If you’re playing a progressive jackpot slot, the main prize is often scrolled across the top of the game like a live counter. In contrast, when it comes to standard payouts, the numbers shown often look like this: 100x.In simple terms, these numbers are a multiple of your line bet (coin size + coins). For example, if you were betting $1 per payline and rolled in a 100x win, you’d bank $100. So, as long as you can do some simple maths, you shouldn’t have any trouble working out your wins. In fact, as you can see from the features we’ve outlined above, the whole process of playing online slots is fairly straightforward. As long as you can understand the basics functions, bet at a level that you can afford and know what symbols you need to match, everything will fall into place and, hopefully, you’ll spin in some wins. Now that you know the basics, head on over to our slots lobby and get started on some great slots games on NZ online casinos.
Slot machines, or pokies, would have to be one of the most entertaining and the most popular forms of gaming in the world. Not restricted to large gaming floors in major casinos, you can find gaming machines in many pubs and clubs as well as the smaller casino, or naturally on the Internet. It's well-known that these machines can also be one of the most addictive forms of gaming. That is why it’s a good idea to know your limits. Recognising these is not easy at times, but the more you are aware of yourself and your surroundings, the more enjoyable sitting down to your favorite game will be!
Here are a few tips and tricks to have the most enjoyable gaming experience possible. Only guidelines, as there is no way to beat the pokies system, chance and luck have a lot to do with a night at the machines. Just remember to have a good time and go for a win!
Pokies Strategies and Hacks
Spin limits
Keep it fresh! - If you aren’t winning anything after eight to ten spins move on to another machine or try free pokie games. Sometimes a change of scenery, or game, is all that is required for a new outlook and energy to win. You can always go back to your favorite game after you’ve played another.
Keep it real – naturally, you’ll probably want to have a couple of drinks, as it's nice to have a bit of a buzz when you win, but best to not overdo it whilst parked in front of the pokies. A clear head makes for a more alert you and a better experience on the gaming floor.
Keep it cool – if you find you are getting pissed off at a machine, the circumstance or lack of payout, best to take a deep breath and move on. You may find yourself getting angry at a machine, or sometimes a neighboring player can rub you the wrong way. They may get a bit ‘shouty’ at their own machine, be smoking cigarettes or a cigar, or they keep winning and you don’t. Remove yourself from the area, and play on another machine.
When to play
Happy – One of the best times to play is when you are feeling happy. Heading to the gaming floor when you are already in a bad mood will only increase the negativity surrounding you.
Hungry – Do not play when you have mouths to feed: yours or your children’s. Kids can get expensive and there are many surprise costs that come about, best to have that money for the really important stuff and keep your bellies full first. Plus, it’s rather distracting to play when your tummy is rumbling!
Flush – Obviously, no one wants to play with money they don’t have. Play only when you have the extra cash around, as not to dig a deeper hole to climb out of. Gaming is a form of entertainment, so it’s a good idea to treat it as one. Leave the credit cards at home and bring what you can afford.
Where to play
Your faves – Generally, best to play in an establishment that is familiar to you. Your local club or pub where you may regularly drink or eat, or play is your best bet. Or if you are heading to a larger casino, take a mate along as a play buddy for the night. This way people like your friends, staff, or other players, know who you are, and may even be able to help you out if you find yourself in a pickle.
Your foes – Playing somewhere for the first time, like at a rival club to your local perhaps? There’s always a period of getting to know the place, the machines, the system, the beers. First time at a new establishment, take a buddy and have a good time. Your second visit will be better for playing in real online pokies. The third and the fourth time will be like the best moments of your life.
Even though they were invented in the early 1900’s in the USA, pokie machines weren’t introduced into Australia until 1955, and then legalized one year later. They were the old kind, slot machines, where you pull the lever and watch the reels spin. The mid-1980’s brought in the video slot machines and the face of gaming in registered clubs in this country was changed dramatically.
Playing The Pokies On Tv
New Zealand 🇳🇿loves their pokies. We even invented the slang name ‘pokies’! Nowhere else in the world are they referred to as such, in fact, if you called them that in Las Vegas they’d look at you very strangely. Best to go by their standard name, ‘slots’ or ‘slot machines’.
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