Push to teach students the odds of pokies, horse racing, by Melanie Christiansen - The Courier-Mail - 20th October 2008

Students would be taught the odds of gambling on the pokies or the horses in the school curriculum, under a proposal from the hotel industry.

The industry wants gambling education added to the national school curriculum.

Responding to concerns about problem gamblers, the Australian Hotels Association has written to a Senate committee suggesting there is a "genuine need" to teach factual information on all forms of gambling in classrooms.

"It is an unfortunate reality that many young people do not understand the odds when gambling, and overestimate their chance of success," the AHA submission said.

"At present, schools throughout Australia teach students about safe sex, the dangers of smoking and drugs and the responsible consumption of alcohol.

"To adequately prepare students for life after school, gambling education needs to be included in the national school curriculum."

The proposal follows a furore two months ago, when a Brisbane school teacher was accused of leading his students astray after taking them to a racecourse to help improve their maths skills.

While teenagers from Mt St Michael's College in Ashgrove spent an afternoon studying form guides, their teacher, Jim Dooley, placed some bets.

Queensland Teachers' Union president Steve Ryan said although most schools did not go to the extent of taking students to races, their maths courses already covered the concepts of probability and chance in data.

He said there was no need to add extra lessons on gambling into an already busy school program.

"Every time there is an issue in our society, it should not be expected that schools can solve it by including it in their curriculum," he said.

(Credit: The Courier-Mail)

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