Paulo's story

'It’s difficult to quit pokies' I have said to many, and sure it is. After ten or so years involvement I should know. The trouble with them is they are a 'meta-punt' – there is so much going on at once and a lot of it is absorbed sub-consciously by the player – they are incredibly addictive to some people.

I have had many attempts at quitting for a while and some successes for sure, but the thing is the pokies will somehow always be able to re-represent themselves as being appealing, or as a winning or fun possibility again and there just around the corner waiting for one when one is off-guard.

Reasoning about the things is also not easy – I know my probability, and I know that for sure I will lose on the pokies, but in the short-term hour of a day, one cant keep that rationality in mind, it's all about daring oneself to go back to them, just an hour, just 20 bucks, but then oh no, one is back in the soup with them again then.

The only thing one can do is keep a diary, tell good friends that its time to quit again, put access to pokies and cash out of reach as best as possible, and really take it day by day and make reasonable targets like the 100 Day Challenge suggested by this website. I feel so much better when off the things, and also am able to reflect more accurately on my past involvement with them.