timfalkiner

About Tim Falkiner

Counsellor and Hypnotherapist
Tim is an accredited transpersonal counsellor and hypnotherapist. He has been involved with gaming machines since 1994. Tim has put his considerable experience and his knowledge of control systems theory into developing a treatment program for helping problem gamblers and their loved ones.

Gambling Regulation Commercial/Legal Officer
Tim became acquainted with gambling issues as the Commercial/Legal Officer with the Victorian Casino Control Authority in 1994.

Chairman of Gambling Education Charity
In 1996, Tim approached Dame Phyllis Frost who convened a steering committee which formed Know the Odds Inc. Tim Costello became its patron and for many years Know the Odds Inc, with Tim as Chairman, sold and distributed education kits to schools to, in Dame Phyllis' words, "waterproof the young against problem gambling".

Examination of Machine Symbolism
Tim carried out an analysis of the most popular themed machines and studied symbolism and the work of the psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. Tim presented a paper at the Jung Society of Melbourne explaining the role of machine symbolism and how Jungian psychology and the analysis of machine symbolism could be used to address escape problem gambling on the machines.

Study of Machine Cheating Designs
Tim studied the design of gaming machines since their original development and wrote a paper with the Canadian expert Roger Horbay titled, "Unbalanced Reel Gaming Machines". This paper analyzed the operation of gaming machines and demonstrated they embodied techniques regarded as cheating technniques in crooked carnival games and crooked table games. This paper has been influential in getting gambling treatment providers to accept their clients are not suffering from faulty cognitioin but they are simply being cheated.

Study of Hypnotic Trance
Whilst undertaking a transpersonal counselling course, Tim realized that the machines induced trance in the problem gambler, that is, they hypnotized these people. Tim realized that in trance, critical reasoning was bypassed and the addictive effects of the machines were greatly enhanced.

Tim's Qualifications
Diploma of Transpersonal Counselling (Phoenix Institute) Certificate IV in Hypnotherapy (Academy of Hypnotic Science) Certificate - Council of Legal Education Diploma of Applied Science (Town Planning) RMIT