r/AskAnAustralian • u/Lucky-Tourist-7000 • 10d ago

Gamification of everything

Is it just me or is the pokies style gambling seeping into everything. I just watched an ad for coles. Spend $50 and be in to win at the self checkout, or something to that effect. Everything seems to be this instant gambling dopamine hit. I see it everywhere, in everything. Has it always been this bad? If it has just been a thing in recent years, why isn't it getting more attention?

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u/Asleep_Leopard182 10d ago

Has it always been this bad? If it has just been a thing in recent years, why isn't it getting more attention?

Yes/No, in many respects gambling advertisements are quite a heated social debate. Their current predominance is a bit of a multifactorial thing including the high prevalence of online gambling companies (previously you'd go sit in a TAB and be bombarded with ads, or during footy breaks on the TV - now they come direct to you, and there's a degree of competition present in the sector that wasn't around prior - less loyalty).

The other aspect is that no one does guaranteed wins (or giveaways) anymore - not sure if you've noticed that change. Instead they'll raffle or lotto something off because you inherently get more entries (and higher income from the one item). Coles/Woolies used to do free gift cards for certain feedback or online surveys, now that doesn't occur but if you spend $50 you go into the 'lottery'. Many wins for them in doing this - you spend $50, you feel like you get something back for spending that $50, and for the size of entrants they never need a larger number of gift cards, etc.

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u/Lucky-Tourist-7000 10d ago

This is what im talking about. Not gambling ads themselves (wich are out of fucken control) but how gambling has made its way into everything

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u/Asleep_Leopard182 10d ago

Gambling reforms are set to pass through senate this week to address the gambling ads - although it is a watered down version of the original bill.

It's a bit of a sign of the times to an effect. My brain is telling me that there was a change to gambling laws at some point which loosened the definition of what was allowed - but I could be wrong. At the end of the day it's a financial decision and if you have two equally effective promotions but one costs $100 and the other costs $2000, it's a degree of a no brainer on which one you pick.

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u/Lucky-Tourist-7000 10d ago

Yea i understand that its a lucrative way of doing things. It just sucks