Australia has a 'pokies' gambling problem, but is change coming? - BBC News

The country is controversially home to a fifth of the world's slot machines, known locally as "pokies".

2 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, Kate Seselja spent more than a decade battling a gambling addictionBy Tiffanie TurnbullBBC News, SydneyAt the lowest point of her addiction, Kate Seselja sat in front of an electronic gambling machine for hours, crying as she stared at the glowing nil balance.

Her phone buzzed on an intermittent loop - her worried husband calling "a hundred times", and increasingly desperate to find her.

Overcome with feelings of dread and shame, she thought about ending her life - but didn't because she was pregnant with her sixth child.

"I was so mentally, physically, [and] emotionally done with this existence, this addiction" she tells the BBC.

"But I couldn't figure out how to take my life and not hers."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-64898509?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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