DAVID NICHOLAS: GAMBLING AND INFLUENCER GURU
David Nicholas, known online by the pseudonym ‘The Captain Davo’, is fond of promoting his lavish lifestyle across his multiple social media platforms.
From glamorous women in bikinis to driving a $400,000 Porsche 911 Carrera GT3, the 25-year-old punter and social media influencer from Adelaide clearly has a penchant for showing off his wealth and how it funds plenty of partying. But anti-gambling advocates warn the reality of gambling addiction is far different for thousands of Australians struggling to pay bills because of their habit.
Yet, by winning big, David flaunts a lifestyle that a lot of people dream of and wish upon themselves. The Queensland government rates the chance of winning the maximum payout on a poker machine as one in 7million. That footage has already been viewed more than 94,000 times since it was posted on YouTube on November 25. This YouTube channel features gaming ads, unsurprisingly, and the number of viewers has kept growing.
On that channel, he called himself Mark Petersfield even though his gambling website is registered under the name of David Nicholas at an address at South Plympton, in Adelaide’s south.
‘Hi there Mark Petersfield here also known as The Captain Davo,’ he said in a brief biography. ‘I started my gambling career when I was 18 years old.
‘Since then I have been diagnosed as an addict. Cheers.’
Baptist minister Tim Costello, who is also the spokesman for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said social media influencers were contributing to higher rates of gambling addiction among the young. By using an influencer to create a new type of lifestyle like this, it creates an image that gambling is the good lifestyle.
‘You cannot play them regularly and win. You simply can’t. That’s why we’ve got prisons full of people — ended up addicted and stealing, bankruptcies because people believed that.’
Mr Nicholas declined to address any suggestion he was promoting the interests of the gaming industry.
‘Apologies on the delay. I am not interested in above mentioned story. However, my content comes from a passion of gambling. All the best with your article,’ he told Daily Mail Australia today.
Crown Resorts was last year fined $300,000 by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation for tampering with poker machines.
In March and April 2017, certain buttons were hidden on 17 gaming machines so that only minimum and maximum betting options were available.
Mr Nicholas has amassed more than 13million viewers since he last year set up a YouTube channel.
