What Matters To You Day

[Cass_Jov (moderator)]

‘What Matters To You’ Day is one of our strategies to gain a better understanding of the things that are really important to the people that use our service. We know that by focusing on what really matters to you we can make big improvements to our services.

We would like to post some of your responses on social media on 'What Matters to You Day' on Monday 6 June, so please indicate whether you are happy for us to do that in your response. If you would like to see what other peoples responses are, you can look for the hashtag #wmty16 on Social Media.

So go ahead and tell us - What matters to you?

[Peter]

Hey there Cass_Jov...to give you a start. When I was gambling my demeanor was angry, aggressive and secretive trying to hide my activities. What matters to me today is my family and their wellbeing. As I have progressively opened up and admitted to my gambling addiction and sought out treatment they can feel more relaxed and trusting about what my possible actions and reactions will be now. Our home is a lot better place for everyone. All strength to y'all.

[Cass_Jov (moderator)]

Hi Peter

Thank you for your reply. It's great to hear that you are doing so well!

Do you mind if I post your response on our Turning Point Twitter just quoting you as 'Peter Gambling Help Online Forum Participant'?

Cass

[Jo-Anne]

Hi Cass

I have been thinking over the weekend, and this is what really matters to me every day as a gambler on the mend.
May not be suitable to publish!!! Jo.
If you do publish some of it, please don't use my name, thanks

- No Gambling advertising on TV/Radio (like other addictions)

- A reduction in gambling venues/machines on the East Coast.........similar to WA (I live in WA and it WORKS!)

- Better understanding of Gambling Addiction, instead of it always being a taboo subject..........a country wide advertising campaign should do it! The wider community do not understand gambling at all and we are pretty much outcasts of society! The money the government reaps in should be able to cover this!!

- A ban on Online Casinos, Bookies etc sending offers, or handing contacts to other operators.

- Change "Gamble Responsibly" somehow to put onus on the venue owner, not the gambler.....(we feel guilty enough while we are being ripped off by unfair odds and computers)

PS I am not angry, I am happy I no longer gamble......I am concerned for every new person I see come on to the forum, and the thousands that don't....

[Peter]

Hey there Cass...no objections on my part at all, only to happy to contribute. I do agree with Jo-Anne with respect to more obligation / governance / compliance over operators and venues when it comes to gambling. Responsible service of alcohol took time to become a cultural norm and I expect the same here. I also see a number of hurdles to gambling venue / website / on track bookmakers "management".

The first and primary concern is the simple fact that gambling provides enormous amounts of taxation revenue. These guys make the rules, chances of imposing restrictions are minimal.

The hotel & gambling lobby industry has already been noted that they will spend huge $$$ with both the Coalition and Labor parties in this election because of the anti stance by Nick X & the Greens.

I haven't even started on the logistics etc...all strength to y'all.

[Peter]

Hey there Cass,

I understand, I think, that it is difficult to be a service provider to people that have physcological dependencies from a static position, that is, a website. Your website does however point to both types of contactable resources, phone and online, which is really the extent of reach that you could expect to have. My observation of the forums has been that in the main they are declarations to stop or a cry for help on what to do. Both severe imposts on the participants and I would have thought that face to face counselling was the first option that people would go to get through the early stages. Does your online / phone services get substantial usage? Referrals to clinical support I believe is very important, again understanding that a lot of the "free" clinics are well booked and with waiting lists, maybe your website can provide availabilities with in each state/city. Hope that helps in some way. All strength to y'all.

[Cass_Jov (moderator)]

Hi Peter and Jo-Ann

Thank you so much for your contributions they have been very helpful and given us a lot of things to think about. We will be feeding these into various aspects of the development of Gambling Help Online so it’s been a really useful exercise.

We have posted one point from each of you on Turning Point’s twitter account (anonymously for Jo-Anne) and I am happy to say both comments have had a very positive reception with a few retweets and likes each! They can be seen here: https://twitter.com/turningpointau

To answer your question Peter around online and telephone counselling, we do have a pretty substantial take-up and it’s increasing all of the time. Alot people find our services to be helpful when they might not have access to other services or as a hand in hand approach to face to face services.

Our point of difference is that we are here when other services aren’t open or when people can’t access them for various reasons like being in remote locations, shift workers, mobility issues etc. – the reasons can go on and on.

We do a lot of referrals and it would be wonderful to be able to indicate waiting times, that’s something we will have to workshop with our partners.

Thank you again for your participation!

Cass

[Ben]

I wish I read this thread earlier.

What really matters to me is greater advertising of help available to gamblers, stronger advertisements. I'm not one that likes doing one on one talking on the phone or in person so this forum has significantly helped me. The forum is like an online diary where people who are experiencing the same issues can offer support.

Would really really love to see a decrease of tv gambling advertisements including in game odds.

Like Jo, I would like to see an advertising campaign/documentary of some sort of how the different types of addictions work, such as alcohol, gambling, drugs, all the different types of addictions.

I've followed https://twitter.com/turningpointau and will be looking forward to their tweets.

[Peter]

Hey there Cass,

To Ben's point re advertising, I heard the ad for the Gambling Help Line for the first time this morning on AM radio. Because I was ware of this service I listened, but to be plain speaking to you, it doesn't really grab your ears. Needs more impact in -
1. How the ad in the first instance gets the listeners attention
2. The message script is warm without driving me to get more information from the ad
3. The call to action at the end sort of drifts away.
Is there a TV ad campaign to go with the radio campaign?
To be fair though it is a good job to deliver this message to those in need.
All strength to y'all.

[Ben]

In Victoria, there is a 'gambling regret' commercial, that although it gets my attention and I remember it a lot of the quotes, I don't actually know the number to call..... I don't know how it can be done but the commercial has to be positively rewarding some how or positively grabbing *shrugs*, make me want to get help.... I'm mumbling now

1300 6555 06 is the reading writing helpline... perfect example of an easy to remember, attention grabbing commercial. I wonder if funding, can produce a similar attention grabbing commercial that can entice gambling addicts to call the number, and not feel ashamed about it