• The chief organization of Australian physicians has sounded an alarm over social media promotions of poker machines
• Many videos online shared by social media influencers tend to "glamorize" gambling on poker machines
• The issue is that these videos encourage people to participate in a potentially dangerous pastime without any warning

Doctors in Australia are up in arms, suggesting that general guidelines about maintaining consumer safety have been breached by social media influencers, and possibly the platforms that allow such content to appear in the first place.

Social media videos glorify poker machines, doctors warn

Australian Medical Association Dr Danielle McMullen was cited by The Guardian, a prominent British media outlet with an Australian presence, and a firm gambling hawk, arguing the case against this trend.

According to Dr McMullen, there has been an inundation of videos that promote and even glorify poker machines. In these videos, collected from real-world venues, social media users show how they win big amounts from seemingly negligible wagers.

One of the cited cases by the media is a video that shows a player turning a $5 bet into $164,000 win (the currency is not specified). However, the video also conveniently skips how much was lost by that player before they won, or what that player’s lifetime losses are.

Dr McMullen has called for more action from lawmakers, outlining the problem at hand and saying that these videos target young people, trying to "glamorize what is a dangerous habit" that people should not be encouraged to participate in.

"These videos show that our regulations around gambling just aren’t keeping up with the 21st century. They are essentially ads for gambling, and our governments need to take a long, hard look at how we get on top of this content," Dr McMullen added.

Australia has been experimenting with measures to restrict the negative impact of poker machines, floating the idea of carded play and limiting external advertising for poker machine clubs. However, clamping down on social media advertising has proven even more difficult.

Regulations that are lagging behind the current realities

Meta, one of the companies on whose platforms the ads mentioned by Dr McMullen have appeared, told the Guardian that the firm was committed to ensuring that no gambling messages by unauthorized parties are allowed.

The Australian Medical Association, as a body, has said that there is an issue with how these messages are pushed onto people. Social media influencers seldom bother to issue a warning about the fact that gambling can be an addictive hobby.

No responsible gambling messages accompany such videos, and entire social media channels seem to collect the wins of people who play on poker machines and have a video of it. Australian doctors argue that if this practice is left unchecked, the societal costs will continue to mount.

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