Totally agree, the worst form of gambling are the pokies, and I can't understand how this continues not to be addressed by the concerned parties to the extent of horseracing gambling.
There is zero chance of winning long term on the pokies, yet there is a chance to win playing cards or horseracing if you have the edge.
There is no edge in pokies, only house and government.
Seniors and housewives are getting hit very hard and becoming the predominant problem gamblers according to statistics.

The Govt has the consumer index that shows peoples retail spending, like food & clothing .

But included in that index is gambling.
The retail association has tried for years for the Govt to have gambling removed from that index , because it does not give a true indication as to whats being spent through retail.

Example the association gave was spending may have gone up 12.5%
But 2.5 of that is gambling.
That's a 21% difference
These are the things the reserve bank looks at when doing their figures to see if the economy is hotting up or not.

It appears the Govt are the ones with the gambling problem .
They cant live with out it.
They prefer to hide these figures within general retail spending, so it does not stand out Funny that.

All the gamblers anonymous associations all say Poker machines are the No.1 culprit , which damages numerous families out there & the Govt is reluctant to do anything about it.
The Govt needs a due diligence check put upon them by say the ombudsman.
Knowingly allowing a family damaging activity to operate.

And here's the bad news..................

Many of you will be aware of a recent decision by the High Court of Australia which upheld Racing NSW’s decision to impose a turnover based fee on wagering operators.

Due to the additional cost to Betfair associated with this decision and in order for us to continue to offer an Australian racing product to customers, it is necessary to implement an increase to prices on all Australasian racing markets.

From 1 May 2012, Betfair’s market base rate (‘MBR’) on all thoroughbred, harness and greyhound races in Australia and New Zealand will increase from 5% to 6.5%. Customers will still obtain Betfair Points on these markets in the ordinary manner and will remain eligible to receive a discount on the commission payable in accordance with their discount rate (the maximum discount rate remains 60%).

Yeah just got the email.....going to make things harder for quite a few people I imagine.

And now the API is playing up. Gonna be one of those days.
Lets' start by getting Hallowell Belle beaten.

So it's not all bad, my 2 picks ran 1-2.

Must be a screw up day, i looked earlier at the race times on Qld site and they said first race was 2pm est time i thought that was late and checked and it was set to WST so i thought it must be right.

come back half hour ago to see i missed the first 2 in Melbourne both winners were my second pick.

Just one ******** up after another last few days.

Sad :(