“I like the idea because it’s original and it would
definitely benefit the community,” local Laura Mansfield, 19, said.
“But some of the older people would probably be
upset.”
Indeed, Ms Mansfield’s elders at the Tudor Inn Hotel –
only a decent drop punt from the Rabbitohs’ licensed premises – were less
convinced.
Forced to shift her casual pokie habit up the road when
the Chalmers St
building was closed for re-developments in March, Susan Morton, 47, said
“old folk” felt less safe playing machines in pubs.
“They are chopping off an arm to save a leg,” Ms
Morton said.
“Old folk around here feel safer playing the pokies
at a club where they can get a courtesy bus to and from home.”
As he watched the mid-week die-hards try their luck,
gaming room attendant Vic Narayan told how pokies dictated the lives of the
community’s most disadvantaged people. Mr Narayan said he now refused to work
on Thursdays – otherwise known as “pension day” – because of the
influx.
“Thursdays are always the busiest days in here –
people can do what they like because they have money,” the 28-year-old
said.
Mr Narayan said problem gamblers had manifested themselves
over the years with threats of physical abuse.
“Just two weeks ago, I had a bloke in here who lost
$400 and threatened to rob the pub to get it back. The worst thing is they
blame us workers when they lose.”
The Salvation Army lavished praise on Crowe’s idea, adding
that it would break the State Government’s “addiction to poker machines”.
Just down the road from Redfern, it runs the William Booth
centre – a specially designed live-in facility for recovering gamblers.
In his seventh month of rehab, Glyn Hicks, 30, said his
10-year addiction regularly played out at nearby Redfern pubs such as the
Cauliflower Hotel on Regent St.
Costing $1500 a week, it reduced him from a carpenter to a
vagabond who slept under a bridge at St Leonards. “If we want to fix this
problem we’ve got to start somewhere,” Mr Hicks said.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22442218-5006009,00.html