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A former gambling-room server at the Dee Why RSL says he quit his job after six months in 2016 because he was so disgusted at how the club encouraged heavy gamblers to stay at pokie machines and keep spending.
Earlier this week, Fairfax Media reported how one of the club's members, Gary Van Duinen, died by suicide after a gambling binge months after his wife had twice asked the club to help curb his gambling.
Mr Van Duinen was a "diamond" member of the club's "Ambassador Rewards" program for big spenders and accrued reward points for the money he lost there, which his wife Sonia estimates amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One of the staff members who served him was Matthew McGee, who told Fairfax Media that, after working at the Dee Why RSL for six months, he not only quit the club but the hospitality industry he had worked in for years.
"It just ripped my guts out, what we were doing," he said, adding that many hospitality workers he knew were appalled by the work they did in gambling rooms.
"We all feel it. Or anyone with a soul does anyway."
Why a Dee Why RSL staffer quit in disgust before gambler's suicide
I hate casinos. Hate them. This is why. So, I don't go.
Earlier this week, Fairfax Media reported how one of the club's members, Gary Van Duinen, died by suicide after a gambling binge months after his wife had twice asked the club to help curb his gambling.
Mr Van Duinen was a "diamond" member of the club's "Ambassador Rewards" program for big spenders and accrued reward points for the money he lost there, which his wife Sonia estimates amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One of the staff members who served him was Matthew McGee, who told Fairfax Media that, after working at the Dee Why RSL for six months, he not only quit the club but the hospitality industry he had worked in for years.
"It just ripped my guts out, what we were doing," he said, adding that many hospitality workers he knew were appalled by the work they did in gambling rooms.
"We all feel it. Or anyone with a soul does anyway."
Why a Dee Why RSL staffer quit in disgust before gambler's suicide
I hate casinos. Hate them. This is why. So, I don't go.
