Extract from ABC News
Paul appeared to have it all as a business owner, proud husband and father to two young children, with another on the way.
But his addiction to playing poker machines in Western Sydney nearly cost him everything.
"I'd had enough, I had nothing to my name, no money in the bank ... no money in the wallet," he said.
"I went to end my life, but like fate ... something happened on that day and made me crawl away from the edge of the cliff."
An unintentional text message from his daughter saved his life.
"I remember sitting there and praying that if there is something on the other side, all would be forgiven, and on some chance got to get a text message that wasn't intended for me," he said.
"I broke down in tears because the message, it was just not what I had expected that day."
Paul sought help from his doctor the next day as he started his painful and confronting journey toward recovery, but claims he was able to return to his familiar gambling spots, despite self-excluding.
While his life was saved, he knows of others who were not as lucky, and says his community continues to reel from the losses.
A new report by the Centre for Western Sydney has described gambling as Western Sydney's "silent epidemic".
"Western Sydney sustained 63 per cent of Sydney's gambling losses through electronic gaming machines, despite only having 52 per cent of its population," manager Tom Nance said.
"We really need to tackle the location of electronic gaming machines and how this drives the silent epidemic of gambling-related harm within Western Sydney."
He said "alarmingly" a high percentage of losses are sustained in a small number of places, like Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Cumberland local government areas (LGAs) which have more than 11,200 pokie machines combined.
People in the three LGAs lost a record $862 million in the first six months of 2022 – a third of Greater Sydney’s $2.5 billion in losses.
"It's not surprising that, when there's a casino on every corner, that people are more likely to experience gambling-related harm," Mr Nance said.
The harm has become so evident that gambling reform has become a key issue ahead of the NSW state election in March.
But change won't come easy, with the state government receiving billions every year in tax revenue from clubs and pubs, ClubsNSW fiercely campaigning against reform and a lack of bipartisanship.
Premier Dominic Perrottet wants to introduce a cashless gaming card through his coalition government but has faced challenges getting a policy through cabinet.
While Labor has committed to a trial of a cashless card, crossbench MPs and anti-gambling advocates argue it doesn't go far enough.
ClubsNSW has told the ABC it is "committed to reducing the incidence of gambling-related harm", as evidenced through its new Gaming Code of Practice.
It said its 69 clubs in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, and Cumberland LGAs generate $300 million in both state government taxes and ClubGrants tax rebates.
The introduction of the mandatory card was the number one recommendation from the Crime Commission 2021 report into money laundering.
"The cashless gaming card ... which is informed by evidence ... really tackles gambling-related harm as well as money laundering," Mr Nance said.
"When we look at gambling-related harm, it's not just centred on one person. It's also their family, their relationships, the community more broadly."
As politicians debate their next move, community groups in Western Sydney are fighting gambling addiction on the ground.
Nathan Peterson runs Gamblers Anonymous meetings in Liverpool, a place where people can seek help with "no judgement".
"When people arrive here, they're generally very, very broken," Mr Peterson said.
"We've got people that have come in [who have] lost houses, businesses, families, children and been fired from jobs.
"Within driving distance of this room ... there would be somewhere in the realm of 2,000 to 3,000 poker machines."
Mr Peterson said change is needed because the current measures that have been put in place are "obviously not working".
"Around five to eight per cent of the people that will walk through the doors that won't go back out and gamble again ... that's a very small number," he said.
"It doesn't matter what time of the day it is, whether it's five o'clock in the morning or whatever time, I can find a poker machine to play and anything that restricts that cannot be a bad thing."
When pubs and clubs shut their doors during COVID lockdowns, Mr Peterson saw people turn their lives around.
"We saw people come through the program that were getting 30 days, 60 days, 90 days off gambling and that was because they couldn't," he said.
But it didn't last long, with "all the money that people had stored" going "straight back into the machines" when venues reopened.
"There was a stimulus package that allowed people to take $10,000 out of their superannuation fund without reason and I know a lot of people that at the end of COVID accessed that $10,000 and as soon as it hit the bank account went straight through the poker machine."
In Fairfield, federal Independent MP for Fowler, Dai Le, whose own mother battled a gambling addiction, believes residents are at a disadvantage.
"People, when they're poorer, they want to think there's some luck in trying to break through that poverty ... they're trying to win," Ms Le said.
"I cannot stress enough how the impact is, people have to be here to recognise the impact on our communities.
"We need to create a safer environment in clubs for families together because children imitate their elders."
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