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Jordyn Bateman is a 29-year-old disability support worker from the Central Coast in New South Wales.
He's one of 1.7 million people in the state who have been directly or indirectly affected by gambling harm.
"Started around sort of when I finished school, I was doing it with mates and started. I had a few little small wins and then just got really hooked. I was sort of just doing it by myself. I wasn't even doing it with friends. Just lost control a bit. And then I started using all the sport bets apps on my phones for probably 10 years, at least. 10 years. I think I knew I had the problem because everyone around me kept saying, do you know how much you lose and what are you doing?"
Jordyn's experience isn't uncommon, with over half of the adults in New South Wales gambling every year.
But a new government incentive will aim to combat the harm associated with gambling.
New South Wales Gaming Minister David Harris says it will focus on using those with lived experience to benefit those currently struggling with gambling.
"This service offers support for people who have experience of gambling harm, have been trained to offer relatable perspectives and advice. So we'll have seven workers across the state who've experienced gambling harm themselves with four more coming on board next year. So that'll be a total of 11. That's a new service, so we will be evaluating how that progresses and obviously make changes if necessary down the track."
Mr Harris says he hopes to make the program accessible to people from a range of diverse backgrounds, including those who don't speak English as a first language.
"On the GambleAware website, in the top right hand corner, there's a selection of different languages, but there's also a special campaign that's called the Number that Changed My Life. It's been done in a number of different languages. There's a number of resources for culturally diverse communities, and certainly we'll be listening to feedback and see if we have to extend that further."
It's been well received by safe gambling advocates, including mental health support organisation Wesley Mission.
Chief Executive Stu Cameron says it's a step in the right direction.
"We welcome any investment in gambling, harm prevention, including supportive peers. Anything that will de-stigmatise people reaching out for assistance and help with gambling problems they might have is something that's to be applauded and we need much, much more of. So we welcome it. We also recognize that there is so much more to be done when you've got so much harm being caused by an epidemic of gambling across Australia and across New South Wales. In particular, investment in gambling harm activities are all the well, but we actually need significant gambling reform here."
The new program is not likely to eradicate gambling harm, with New South Wales leading the country in poker machine losses.
Earlier this year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported there are more than 87,000 poker machines in the state.
That's around one for every 95 New South Wales residents.
More than $8.1 billion was lost on these machines in 2023 - that's $1,000 for every adult and child in the state.
It marks the highest per capita poker machine losses in the world.
Mr Cameron says it's going to take a lot more government funding to make a significant dent in the issue.
"It's a great start, but the reality is across New South Wales, there's 1.7 million people who are directly or indirectly impacted by gambling harm. That's what the research shows, and so we just know that gambling harm affects every postcode, every demographic, every cultural group. And so we need as much investment as we can possibly muster to address those issues. But far better we think, is to reduce harm at its conception, and that means reducing the number of poker machines."
But for Jordyn Bateman, he says he's positive anyone can recover from gambling harm - just like he did.
"I think you need other people around you as well to support you. Everyone needs a supporter. Otherwise, if I didn't have that, I'd be still where I was. They could look into it further and do some study on it and actually see where the baseline of what's harming people and work out from that. But that's a good start for sure. I'm just happy where I'm at today and there's always help out there. You can get there."
And you can call the 24-hour GambleAware Helpline on 1800 858 858 for free and confidential support.
