Jake Van Berlo was popular, outgoing and good at everything he did. Whether it was sport or school, he nailed it.   

So when he spent his entire apprentice wage on poker machines in an hour-long lunchbreak, he felt like a failure.

He died by suicide 12 years ago, which his parents said was linked to his gambling problem. 

A landmark independent study released last week by Federation University senior research fellow Angela Rintoul and the Victorian Coroner’s Court has found at least 4 per cent of Victoria’s suicides between 2009 and 2016 were related to problem gambling.

Researchers say Jake’s death is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gambling-linked suicide because people suffering from the addiction often keep it a secret.

Depression and gambling

Annie and John Van Berlo told the ABC when their son died by suicide at the age of 19, he had a gambling debt of just $160. 

But coupled with his depression, it had dire consequences.

“He spent all his pay and so that to him was a failure,” Ms Van Berlo said.

At the time of his death, Jake was medicated and seeing a psychologist, but his parents said his desire for easy money tipped him over the edge.

His first time gambling on the pokies had him excited and ready to keep on playing.

He had just turned 18 and in one go, won the equivalent of his full-time apprentice fortnightly wage.

“Jake won $600 on the very first time which was probably the downfall because he saw it as a good thing,” Ms Van Berlo said.

The Coroner at the time found access to an ATM in a Warragul gaming venue fuelled Jake’s gambling addiction and later that year, ATMs in gambling venues were restricted.

Disparity among states

Victoria is now becoming the strictest state in Australia for gaming regulation.

But gambling addict and anti-gaming advocate Ben Hamilton told the ABC that in other states, such as New South Wales, a lot needed to be done.

Mr Hamilton started gambling at the age of 16.

He would go into pokies venues and pass for an 18-year-old.

But it was not until he came of age that putting money through the machines became part of his routine, just like it had for his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents before him. 

A tiler by trade, he would head to his local venues in Ballina, New South Wales, spending his pay sitting at the machines, watching the reels run.

For a decade he spiralled, and said he still dreamt about the colours, music, and flashing lights the machines conditioned their users to fall in love with.

Over the years he has attempted suicide on multiple occasions and eventually lost his marriage.

“My wife was my shield for a very long time,” Mr Hamilton said.

After hitting rock bottom, he connected with other people experiencing the same problem and went on to start the Facebook support group, Kickin’ the punt.

He advocates for victims and reform of the industry, but said the problem was brutal and ongoing. 

Purpose saves life

But even with the strong support network he has created, Mr Hamilton is still susceptible to relapses that hit him hard.

“It makes you feel like you want to kill yourself the next day, not that I’d act on it,” he said.

“I’ve been in venues this year where I’ve won the grand jackpot and have just given the money away to people who are with me, people next to me, random people I didn’t even know because it makes me feel dirty.

With a young son to raise and a group of people to vouch for, he said his purpose kept him going.

“I’m lucky that I’ve got all this purpose to sort of push through those feelings of wanting them in my life because if I didn’t, I’d be dead,” he said.

Call for self-exclusion register

Mr Hamilton believes a digitised national self-exclusion register for poker machines may help because self-exclusion is not legally mandated within venues.

This year a federally funded national exclusion register for online gambling called Bet Stop was introduced.

Online gambling on apps and websites started in 2008.

But despite poker machines being introduced in New South Wales in the 1950s and in Victoria in the early 1990s, tools and regulations to help problem gamblers stop are a long way behind.

Mr Hamilton has accompanied many of his peers to self-exclude in venues, only to hear from their family members that they have been allowed to gamble the following day.

Data shows link between suicide, gambling

Dr Rintoul researches gambling addiction.

For the first time since poker machines were introduced into pubs and clubs, digitised data has been collated independently, looking at gambling-related suicides.

Between 2009 and 2016, 4 per cent of Victorian suicides were related to gambling.

But Dr Rintoul believed the number was likely a lot higher and if comprehensive data could be accurately recorded, it should be treated as a public health problem with death tolls intermittently reported.

“We know that this is an under-count,” Dr Rintoul said.

“Because people often feel shame and stigma … the people who have died by suicide related to their gambling might not have mentioned to their friends or family that they had a problem with gambling.

“We also came across a number of cases where there were a lot of unexplained debts, and there was no information we could trace down as to what the source of that debt was.

“So we weren’t able to include those cases in our study because there was no mention of gambling.”

Dr Rintoul and her colleagues are now calling on state and federal governments to set up a taskforce to prevent gambling-related suicides, following recommendations handed down in June by the federal government’s inquiry into online gambling and its impacts.

The recommendations included a total ban on gambling advertising, and restricting incentives for pokies venues to draw families in, such as cheap meals and other promotions.

In June, the Victorian government announced reforms requiring carded play with pre-commitment limits and caps of $100 to be spent on a machine at a time, down from $1,000.

Gaming venues will also be made to close for at least six hours a day.

But Dr Rintoul is concerned that no clear timeline being given for the reforms to be implemented may result in the industry watering protective measures down.

Loading