Warruwi Safe Gambling

Young rap artist Luke is the voice behind a series of videos designed to start a conversation. "I wanted to make it honest and didn't want to sugarcoat anything, you know. I think it's really important that we be honest with ourselves and how dangerous it can be if you get an addiction with it," he says. "You've been losing all night long, now you want to play again 'cause you got to win at some point, right? Wrong." Launched today in Newcastle by Warui Safe Gambling, the animations were produced by Aboriginal students. "We're so used to ads not being messages that are a part of our lives," Luke continues, "They're sort of preaching rather than telling us a story, and I think that's what we wanted to do: tell a story that's about the reality of life, get people's attention, hopefully, they listen and they really absorb the message." Former Newcastle Knights player Ashley Gordon has spent decades working with Aboriginal communities. "The research would indicate that close to 18% of Aboriginal people have serious harms caused by gambling, so it is quite widespread," he explains. Gordon has pulled together the new resources, others featuring prominent Indigenous people, including comedy and footy stars. "The dangerous thing is you can lose absolutely everything with gambling," warns one of the clips. The videos will be rolled out over the coming weeks on social media. If you think you might be having an issue with gambling, get some help. NBN News nightly at 6