“The person who goes and, shall we say, plays a poker machine and he has no money left to buy food or whatever is a fool. What do you do about fools?” Ainsworth said. “In this piece, I’ve https://playfina-aus.com/ got a work where it’s Len Ainsworth and me,” he says, holding up a collage image of the pair standing together in front of a bank of poker machines. For decades, Len Ainsworth was a larger-than-life character in the Australian media — feuding publicly with critics of poker machines, his business rivals and even politicians. Len Ainsworth’s influence on the modern poker machine industry is so immense, he’s often called the “pokies king”.
The ‘pokies king’ becomes a ‘visionary’ donor
New research from Roy Morgan has shown that while sports and horse race betting have a high profile, it is poker machines that still command the majority of Australia’s gambling dollar. And he says he wants to turn the focus back onto those who’ve profited from gambling harm — the clubs, the pubs, politicians and manufacturers, like Len Ainsworth. This system was recommended by the executive committee of the Independent Panel on Gaming Reform, a body convened after revelations that huge amounts of money were being laundered by criminals through poker machines in NSW. Both ClubsNSW and the AHA have rejected calls for the introduction of a new system for poker machines in NSW, which would require all gamblers to sign up for an account. He says he wants others to understand the impact of gambling not just on the gambler, but on the people who love them — their family, their community, their kids.
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- Last year in Cumberland, the local government area where Nelson Nghe grew up, pubs and clubs made a net profit of about half a billion dollars from poker machines.
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Historian Susan Marsden, who spent years interviewing Len Ainsworth and reviewing his archives, discovered that around this time, Ainsworth’s expansion plans took a decisive turn towards politics — one that would have a lasting impact. But his awe began to curdle when someone mentioned one of the exhibition halls in the new building had been named after billionaire businessman Len Ainsworth and his family, in thanks for a $10 million donation. That’s more than Australian households spend on electricity and gas ($29.5 billion) or alcohol ($26.8 billion) – so it seems safe to say we have a problem. “Did they not have the capability of incorporating gaming machines as part of their business model, there are many, many hotels that simply would not be viable.” The Greens called on the SA government to commit to phasing out all pokies by 2030, calling them a “scourge on our state”. “The impacts are in a cost of living crisis are hugely profound. People go without food, people quite often can’t pay their rent and it has dire consequences for families.”
What percentage of Australians play pokies?
Australia is estimated to have 197,122 electronic gaming machines (EGMs), which is 2.50% of the world's legally installed machines. Around 600,000 Australians (4 per cent of the adult population) play on the 'pokies' at least weekly.
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But as an artist just starting out in his career, Nghe knows there are risks to criticising this powerful industry and a man like Len Ainsworth, whose influence extends even into the art world. Marsden found that in 1979, Ainsworth started donating to an organisation called the Australian Club Development Association, committing to spend $100,000 a year on the group and $150,000 annually for a lobbyist to run a campaign. But amidst all of this drama, Ainsworth’s ambition and strategy powered his company’s ascent.
By contrast, Western Australia, which does not allow poker machines outside of casinos, has 941 people per machine. More than $1 billion has been lost on poker machines in South Australia in the past year, with experts saying the issue is “spiralling out of control”, as cost of living pressures encourage some people to gamble more. Two pokies may look similar on the surface but perform very differently in real play. The features below are what separate well-designed games from average ones.
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Aristocrat withdrew from the trial early on, saying it wanted to focus on developing its own cashless technology. But along with it, about half of the 28 venues that were slated to participate also pulled out, because Aristocrat was providing their cashless technology. But, he adds, views on gambling are shifting — even, it seems, within the Ainsworth family. “I was curious about the man because, as a billionaire pokey baron and manufacturer, it wasn’t necessary on his part really to spend any time with the likes of me,” Cameron says. But he has been questioned directly, at times, about the impact of his machines on others.