COVID-19 Virus.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I used to go to Toumwal, on average, every second weekend (from Melbounre) to do some gliding or just enjoy the area. The average visit would be drive from Melbourne Friday after work; stop a Shepparton and grab some take away, motel in Toc in the evening. Saturday was gliding or just taking it easy and visiting some sights (interestingly, there are a few around if one cares to look). Saturday night to the golf club for some dinner and the band; Sunday more gliding or just take a different scenic way back to Melbourne. Stop off at a town club for lunch on the way (or visit a winery or restaurant... or pub).

 

The Tocumwal golf club has (or at least had) a great club restaurant and bar - floor to ceiling glass overlooking the fairways and in summer sitting their with a drink and/or dinner watching the kangaroos gather and rummage in the grass while the sun setting was memorable and serene. Occasionally we would go upstairs to the restaurant, but it later closed and I would wager it was because the view wasn't quite as good and the food not much better, if at all, to the bistro downstairs. The only problem was the dull ring of the pokies and clanging of coins in their chutes.

 

I never really had any desire to even have a small flutter.. But they were always full; most people having a flutter, coming off and having a drink and going back (I don't think they brought drinks to the punters at the machines).. There seemed a few however, that would not move from a single machine the whole time. Either way, it wasn't for me, but as the then partner duly oblighed coming to Tocumwal with no interest in gliding or the area, if she wanted a go, we would go and have a flutter. We, like many others it seemed, would set a limit - usually $20 each.. Sometimes we were back at the bar very quick smart. Other times, it provided activity for a while - say an hour or two; Some times, but rarely, we came out ahead but never near the amounts you hear people say they had ever won.

 

I think most people operated more or less on that basis, but there were a few who, if they weren't, definitely looked like they were addicted.

 

Many of the sports clubs, including Tocumwal's golf did very well on a Saturday evening. But they did OK for the rest of the week, too. When poker machines were banned in Victoria, the border clubs used to pay bus companies to ferry people from the south to their facilities for free (I think even lunch was included). They would play the pokies for the day and head home.

 

I think OME is right - It will cost these clubs a lot of money of which does do a lot of good for the local community. When Joan Kirner, a Labour premier of all people, allowed pokies in Vic, many were heavy hearted.. The pensioners no longer had their "free" trip to the border, which for many was as much or more about enjoying others company and a nice day out as the pokies themselves (my father did one once - like me was never interested in them one-armed bandits - but said most people were there for the social scene and played a bit to ensure it kept going). THe other reason is they killed the ambience of the pubs.. well.. some they did improve, but many were doing well and were great watering holes. Gone are the live bands (be they rock or jazz) and in their place are the incessant bell ringing olde fayre ground tunes. Although, heartingly, on my last trip to Aus, where I had time to visit a pub I used to frequent, they only had a couple... and maybe that's the happy medium.

 

The other concern is online gambling. I don't know how big it is in Aus, but over here, it is huge. There are strict laws though where both online and bricks/mortar casinos have to have in place processes to identify potential problem gamblers and restrict/stop them and offer support (usually through charities or contracted third parties). Companies get fined big if the fail in these areas. Surely, with the money the industry generates in Aus, similar laws can be introduced of if already there and needed, tightened up. Most people like the flutter, the noise and the interaction and treat it as a social occasion which is an alternative to just going to a pub or a night club or a restaurant. Some people are vulnerable to it but we shouldn't stop the majority enjoying because of the few - we should have appropriate measures in place to address the few and to not allow it to unreasonably encroach other enjoyment

 

The danger I see is that these people deprived of their habit move to online gambling.. then no one who has their back can see them. and help them... And trust me, putting together online poker machines resplendent with the graphics, sounds and ability to take your money, from scratch, would not take long.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Jerry_Atrick

[onetrack]

The whole of W.A., apart from the Crown Casino in Burswood, is completely pokie-free, and has been forever.

 

The State Govts of W.A. know full well the massive societal, emotional, and financial damage that pokies do to communities, and every W.A. State Govt has resisted the insidious push from the vested interests in hotels, clubs and the gambling industry owners, to try to overturn the State Govts attitude towards a pokie-free State. I trust it remains that way, for all time.

 

It doesn't mean that West Aussies don't like a flutter. We have neddys, we have dogs, and we have LotteryWest. But there again, LotteryWest is State Govt-owned, and all the profits from LotteryWest are turned back into the community in the form of grants to worthy organisations and projects.

LotteryWest hands out around $360M a year to projects such as community playgrounds and waterslides, artworks, improvements to social facilities - and the RFDS. In fact, the RFDS is a major beneficiary of LotteryWest grants.

 

I like it that way, and I'd much rather the profits from Lotto in W.A., go to the worthy projects that LotteryWest finance, rather than making Tatts and their already wealthy shareholders, a lot wealthier.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Guest

[old man emu]

I believe that the introduction of pokies to pubs was a terrible thing. There they are nothing more than a funnel feeding into the pub's coffers. How many pubs put substantial amounts of money back into their communities?

 

People simply don't understand the concept behind the financials of a poker machine. Gaming Laws in each State set out how much an individual machine must return of the money put into it. The figure varies from a low of around 85% to a high in the 90's. The payout percentage can, I think, be set by the poker machine operator to cover licence fees, equipment costs etc.

 

Not let's say a machine is programmed with a payout percentage of 90%. One might think that if you put $100 into a machine, you could reasonable expect to get at least $90 back. You'd accept paying $10 for the entertainment of playing the machine. However, the 90% payout return is in fact 90% of the total amount of money put into the machine over its working life. You could put $100 into a machine and be cleaned out in ten minutes. On the other hand, you could put in $100 and crack the major jackpot with the first spin. Then you will get sucked in, trying to repeat your good fortune. Either way, by the time the machine is taken out of service, 10% of the money fed into it has gone to the operator, State and machine manufacturer.

[red750]

I can't stand the constant racket. My wife used to enjoy the pokies a few years ago, and actually used to win a bit. I went with her a few times and retired to the coffee area to watch the TV but I used to be asked to leave for falling asleep. I have also occasionally slept in the car waiting for her. She hasn't been for a few years. Within 5km of home, there are four hotels with pokies rooms, and in the nearest shopping mall, Forest Hill Chase, there is a pokies lounge, Vegas at The Chase, on the entertainment level with the cinemas, gym and games centre for kids. (Or there used to be - I haven't been on that level in years.)

[onetrack]

When the Crown Casino was the former Burswood Casino in the early 1990's, it had a small number of pokies, and the balance was card games, dice games, and choccy wheels - a nice balanced range of ways to get rid of a few dollars, and be entertained.

When SWMBO was working evening shifts on Telstra Faults & Difficulties (1100 number), I'd have tea and go over to the Casino for maybe 3 hrs, until she got home.

I specialised in the choccy wheel. I got quite good at estimating when the big numbers were coming up, by keeping a running record, and gradually increasing the bet size as the time neared for the wheel to stop on another big number.

 

I won about a $1000 (over my input) over about 4 mths, and SWMBO was surprised when I came home with winnings on many nights, and gave her half my winnings.

 

Then one day, they did something to the choccy wheel mechanism that made it erratic. Not matter what I did, and no matter how much I recorded the numbers, and used the law of averages, the wheel then started sucking up all my money.

 

After about another 4 mths, I'd lost nearly all I'd won. I gave up, and didn't go back for a long time. When I did, all the dice games and the wheels were gone - and pokies filled every corner of the rooms!

They'd organised with the State Govt to get a massive increase in pokies to, I think it was, 1300 machines! The fun had gone out of going to the Casino with all these cursed machines, and I never went back.

[old man emu]

A MOMENT OF RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION!!!

 

With the schools closed due to C-19, we've had my grandson home this week. The school provided lesson plans for the kids to do so that the time wasn't lost. The grandson is in Year 2, and is arithmetic lessons involve getting grips with addition and subtraction. One exercise involved getting to a specific number by adding other numbers together. One exercise required him to find groups of number that added to 21.

 

HOW IRRESPONSIBLE of the school! The gall of them introducing these children to the scourge of gambling! Anyone with a scrap of experience knows that 21 is a winning score in the gambling game of Twenty-one.

[spacesailor]

Grandad.

You should get out those OLD PLAYING cards.

He will learn to count faster than using a pencil.

No money on the table means,

Its not a gamble .

(Don,t forget that OLD song, DECK-OF-CARDS by Tex Ritter.

It,s an eye-opener !.

spacesailor

[Yenn]

Also try playing darts. That means counting backwards and I have seen young kids do it easily.

What I can't understand is, that nowadays with calculators to do the hard work, kids are still turned out from school with inferior maths abilities.

In my day we had to know how to solve the problem and then work it out by hand and check that it was correct, Calculators make life to easy.

I can tell OME is not a gambler, the game is called Pontoon.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Guest

[spacesailor]

In the USA it's Blackjack,

spacesailor

Edited May 9, 2020 by Guest

[gareth lacey]

I played many a round of pontoon in the 60s in the barracks

[old man emu]

You say tomayto, I say tomahto.

 

Pontoon, Blackjack or 21, are basically the same game with some minor rule changes that depend on the locality the game is played in - pub rules.

[willedoo]

It looks like a wait and see stage with the planned easing of restrictions. The interesting part will be seeing if the government's rosy outlook for 850,000 people getting their jobs back by July pans out, assuming no big increase in infections. Even in the best case scenario where that happens, things will look different after September when the government cash injection ends. Stopping the jobkeeper supplement might put more on the dole as some employers struggle to pay workers without the subsidy.

 

There could be a potential 150,000 to 200,000 still out of work due to covid, even if 850,000 get their jobs back. A lot of those people may have never been on the dole before, and have gone onto it when the corona virus supplement effectively doubled the payment. Come October, it will be a big shock for them to have to try and live on less than $300 per week when the subsidy ends. It could be humbling for that small percentage of formerly employed people who may have been in times past, a bit critical of their hard earned tax dollars supporting so called dole bludgers. A 'welcome to the real world' moment. The virus will certainly have made more people aware of how thin our bubble is, and how easily it can burst.

 

There will be a few more bumps in the road before it's all beer and skittles.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Guest

[facthunter]

Gamblng is a GIANT scourge on society. Clubs Australia has too much lobbying power. It caused the Tasmanian result to be what it is. I now don't go in RSL clubs as they got involved in Politics.. The worst thing to happen to a partnership is one get involved with Gambling It just ruins families.. It's addictive totally like any other dependency. They fake how important you are to them while milking you dry. Jamie Packer is going from Bad to worse with his "Ventures".He's a bit of a sad case but I can't feel a single bit of pity for him because of the damage his businesses do to the customers. There's plenty of reasons for the high suicide rate here but there's money in it so who cares? They throw a few sheckels at the local junior football clubs and get lauded for that pittance .Nev

[old man emu]

For a means of winding down before I go to sleep, I play some games on my iPad. I prefer to play Solitaire, but just out of interest, I downloaded a poker machine game. At the time I did that,I was working at a Club and used to sit with people who fed $50 notes into the machines like a person throwing hot chips to seagulls. I wasn't allowed to play the machines while working.

 

Getting back to bed. I've noticed while playing the poker machine game that the majority of "pays" are less than the amount bet per spin. There are some occasional pays that might be more than the bet, but not often. There are two bonus features in the game. One involves trying to pick the symbols that lead to higher payout levels, and the other is the free spin feature. In both cases they are activated when three of their special symbols appear, one in the first "reel", and the other two anywhere else. More often than not a spin results in only two of a kind showing up.

 

The "pick the higher level" comes up more frequently, and more often than not the pay is a equivalent to ten or more bet amounts for the original spin. The free spins feature rarely comes up, and rarely does it return more than two or three times the spin bet. The machine also has two meters which show your credits. One meter shows how many credits you have left, and the other shows how many credits you have one in a session. I notice that the credits won increases during a session, but the credits left keeps falling.

 

I notice that I don't pay much attention to getting three or more of a kind, but tend to hope for the features, especially the free spin one. I also chuckle to myself when I bet 100 credits, get a win of 20 and the words "Great Spin" of "It's your lucky day" come up on the screen.

 

The game is a bit of fun , and I don't actually put any money in, but it bores me after a while, so I go back to Solitaire. At least I have a degree of control over the outcome of that game.

[facthunter]

They used to be called, One armed Bandits. I gave them up entirely in 1997. Not one coin since. There's only ONE way to quit anything Total cold turkey. any other way is too hard. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

Today (Monday 9th March) UK death figures by cause:

 

Other : 1395

 

Roads : 5

 

The Virus : 1

 

Some perspective needed here, and less Panic creation from our beloved media wouldn't go amiss.

 

 

First post of this thread.. How things have changed for the UK and what about the US? Seems those medics knew a thing or two we didn't...

Edited May 10, 2020 by Guest

[old man emu]

They used to be called, One armed Bandits.

 

At least One-Armed Bandits took their time in robbing you. Now Press-Button Pete strips your purse in no time.

 

A One-Armed Bandit was like a bolt-action .303.

Press-Button Pete is an M134 Minigun

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Guest

[red750]

I can't get over these people who have been stressing out over the lockdown restrictions. Fishermen out at five to midnight with a watch, counting down the minutes to cast their line. Golfers out with illuminated golf balls in the dead of night. Get a grip. Surfers out in the dark. I'm an aircraft tragic and photographer, but I've only been near a airport once since the last Avalon Air Show - 20 minutes at Moorabbin. The world hasn't ended, not quite yet anyway.

[onetrack]

The traffic levels appear to have returned to near-normal, despite most people supposedly working from home. I think a lot of people just like driving around.

[red750]

And according to the Yahoo home page, trains packed like sardines. So much for social distancing.

[red750]

Had a serious gastric attack last night with heavy vomiting. Feel like I've been 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. Wife insisted that I have the C-19 test. Not exactly a fun experience. Anyone else had it? Results in 1 to 4 days. My son got tested - negative.

[willedoo]

My doctor's clinic got me to ring the virus centre at the local hospital today. The reason was that I've had a persistent niggling cough for a couple of months and my doctor needs a covid clearance before I can book an appointment for a flu shot. The covid doctor rang and asked me a few questions and then sent a clearance to my doctor. So I avoided getting the swab.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Guest

[pmccarthy]

Had a serious gastric attack last night with heavy vomiting. Feel like I've been 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. Wife insisted that I have the C-19 test. Not exactly a fun experience. Anyone else had it? Results in 1 to 4 days. My son got tested - negative.

Good luck. We need you.

[willedoo]

Some Russian made ventilators are overheating and shorting out and catching fire. Five ventilated patients died in a Saint Petersburg hospital when the ICU caught on fire. Previously, the same thing happened at a hospital in Moscow, killing one Covid-19 patient and injured a heap more as the fire spread.

[old man emu]

TRUMP PPE Courier Service.