Welcome to Clubland: Exploring sociomaterial dimensions of poker-machine gambling harms in community-clubs in New South Wales Australia

This thesis investigates poker-machine gambling and gambling harms in New South Wales Australia. In this research I examine the social, technological, institutional, political and environmental arrangements which constitute Electronic Gaming Machine (commonly known as “poker-machine”) gambling. Through exploring gambling practices, discourses and policies, the study illuminates how gambling arrangements contribute to the phenomena of problem gambling and gambling harms. Despite several inquiries into gambling being commissioned by governments in Australia, the voices of those with lived experience of poker-machine gambling harms are largely absent or go unheard in policy discussions and decision-making. Accordingly, in this collaborative inquiry, conducted in partnership with the Gambling Impact Society (NSW) a peer-led community organisation, the voices and perspectives of those with experience of gambling harms are foregrounded. The study considers the impacts of poker-machine gambling, on individuals, families and communities. NSW gambling harm minimisation policy and practices are considered from the perspective of a range of stakeholders including, gambling operators, researchers, counsellors and people affected by gambling harms.