The dangers of a blanket ban

I don't support a blanket ban on anything.

A comprehensive ban on advertising for online gambling feels like the beginning of a slippery slope to all gambling being banned.

We need legislation to control problems like gambling and we need to have guidelines in place that will protect people, like we do for alcohol and cigarettes, but a blanket ban is not the solution.

Once you become an adult, you decide what you will and won't participate in, whether others like it or not.

I know the damage gambling can cause, but I still don't support an absolute ban.

I have family members and friends who struggle with gambling addiction.

Some of them have an element of control over that addiction.

Others know they can't control it, so they keep themselves away from their gambling vice.

But even with a level of control over their gambling addiction, they are still addicted.

I know people who play online pokies on their iPad instead of going down to the RSL, away from the internet.

They still keep the dopamine hit when they win, but the games are not drowning their bank account, so the financial burden is controlled.

Others will blow any spare cash on the pokies as soon as they get the chance, and there are those who have TAB accounts and won't share how much they have won or lost.

They make sure bills are still paid, but whatever is left at the end of the week is fair game.

There is also a social aspect to gambling.

How many of us know groups of friends who go to the club together for a few drinks and put $20 in the pokies or play Keno.

We all know these people.

Hey, it might even be you.

Do you want choices you make as an adult to be analysed like this?

Or would you like to be able to choose how you spend your time and your money?