Video: Students smash pokie machine in gambling protest

 

Student perceptions about gambling were challenged during a "down-to-earth" demonstration at Otago Polytechnic yesterday, which aimed to highlight how gaming machines can shatter lives.

Occupational therapy students Alice Johnstone and Joe Llewellyn organised the protest in which a pokie was dropped from a crane as a graphic illustration about the harmful effects of gambling addictions.

Ms Johnstone said a recent report had identified 450 gaming machines and 12 casino tables within a 3km radius of the university and polytechnic campus.

"Students respond to something visual," she said about the inspiration behind the demonstration.

More than 100 people gathered to watch as the gambling machine was hoisted to a height of about four storeys and then dropped.

Onlooker Ally Murphy said the event was "quite entertaining ... and it was an impressive smash as well".

Mr Llewellyn said the project was a part of occupational therapy studies focusing on how "at-risk" issues, such as gambling, affected people's ability to participate in meaningful activity.

The stunt was aimed at "challenging" the way people looked and thought about gambling, he said.

About $5.5 million was spent gambling on gaming machines in New Zealand each year, with most of it coming from poorer communities, Mr Llewellyn said.