Hawthorn – the poker machine premiers

I recently published an article in The Age about AFL club Hawthorn, who have won the last three AFL premierships and who run two extremely profitable poker machine venues.

The article went live online on Monday, and was published in today’s print edition. The response has been tremendous.

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I’ve been asked a number of times why I singled out Hawthorn; the answer is simple. They’re not the only AFL club to operate poker machines but they’re the smartest and the most successful.

Consequently, they’re the best-placed to challenge the status quo.

And quite apart from that, they’re the team I’ve barracked for my entire life.

The article can be found here:
Hawks need to go cold turkey on pokie money addiction

Enjoy!

2 Responses

  1. Graeme says:

    So Tom, you were the “victim” of the porkies at Hawks clubs or were you the victim of the Dopamine Reward System operating in your fevered brain? Interesting how your type always blames other things or people rather than yourself. And logic?

    1. All clubs have salary caps so money from that income stream does not go to players above the level playing field.

    2. To characterise all gambling as causing pain and despair is non sensical – this might happen in a small number of cases but it is obvious that the great majority across pokies, the races or other forms of gambling don’t face pain and despair.

    3. Wake up to yourself, the hawks club is not responsible for your losses, you are.

  2. Next time Graeme, I suggest reading the article before embarking on personal attacks. You clearly didn’t, or if you did, you ignored most of it.

    There are countless ways clubs spend money other than salary caps.
    The article isn’t about “all gambling”, it’s about poker machines.
    Yes, the majority of regular poker machine players have problems with gambling.
    And nowhere in this article did I lay the blame for my addiction on Hawthorn, or anyone else.

    So nice try, but no cigar. And you’ve shown your hand quite clearly… “victim”, “your type”, “wake up to yourself”… you’re a troll. I won’t be publishing any further comments from you.

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