Previous state premier Bob Carr promised that it would never happen. Present premier Morris Iemma and his government thought differently.
From next month the numbers game - " Keno " will be unrolled in pubs across this state.
Keno is a game in which gamblers are invited to pick from a field of eighty numbers. A computer randomly picks twenty numbers and players can gamble on the winning proportion of odds or evens, or red or blue depending on the majority above or below forty - or their choice of fields of seven, eight, nine or ten which offer not only rich rewards, but an accumulating jackpot. The guaranteed pay for ten numbers is a million dollars - plus the jackpot.
The entry fee per game is cheap at only one dollar - and each game sequence takes just two minutes - but as with all forms of gambling the chance of losing is much higher than that of a win.
There is a new problem with Keno in pubs. Children under eighteen are not permitted to gamble and poker machines in clubs and pubs are screened and in areas barred to children.
Children are not permitted to play Keno, but the result screens are situated in dining rooms and beer gardens - areas where children are permitted. It is inevitable that children will implore parents to let them try their lucky numbers - and many will see it as harmless fun and grant their wish.
Thus a new method of " grooming " children to be future gamblers will be in place. Anti-gambling groups will protest, but there is an old saying that the most dangerous place in the world is to stand between a politician and a bag of money !
The sad thing is that this state government could not exist without the constant flow of gambling taxes. The pokies return ten billion dollars a year to state revenue, plus many more billions from Lotto, lotteries, scratchies, the TAB, and bookmakers fees.
All of this - and we still don't have a decent health system, road network or train service !
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