This report from the Productivity Commission of Australia (the Australian Government’s independent research and advisory body) provides an in-depth analysis of the effects of the predatory gambling industry on the nation. Gambling, and specifically “pokies” or video slot machines, became pervasive across almost the entire Australian nation by 1995.
Community backlash against slot machines in Switzerland caused the nation to ban slot machines outside of casinos in 2005. Widespread concerns in Russia about gamblers losing their life savings and becoming destitute caused that country to ban all gambling, other than in four highly remote regions. Due to increased problem gambling, Norway banned all video slot machines in 2007 and Internet gambling in 2009. The Norwegian gambling authority is implementing “less aggressive” (slower play, low maximum loss rates) gambling machines in smaller numbers than the banned slots.
The major conclusions from the Australian report are:
* Gambling now costs Australian society about $4.5 billion dollars per year, the bulk of costs deriving from video slot machines. These costs exceed benefits when “excess” losses by problem gamblers is included. Cost per year per adult translates to $210. $1 U.S. dollar = $1.08 in Australian dollars as of Oct 23, 2009.
* 42 to 75 percent of total machine losses are paid by moderate and high risk problem gamblers.
* Gambling machines, as contrasted to other forms of gambling such as lottery or tables games account for around 75–80 percent of ‘problem gamblers’ and are found to pose significant problems for ordinary consumers.
* About 2.5 percent of Australian adults are now problem gamblers.
* 8 to 15 percent of Australian problem gamblers seek treatment. “Internationally, around 6-15 per cent of people experiencing problems with gambling are reported to seek help from problem gambling services…People experiencing problems with their gambling often do not seek professional help until a ‘crisis’ occurs — financial ruin, relationship break down, court charges or attempted suicide — or when they hit ‘rock bottom.’
* Help services for problem gamblers using them have worked well overall, but they relate to people who have already developed major problems and are thus not a substitute for preventative measures.
* The potential for significant harm from some types of gambling is what distinguishes gambling from most other enjoyable recreational activities — and underlines the communities’ ambivalence towards it. While many Australians gamble, they remain skeptical about the overall community benefits. For instance, one survey estimated that around 80 percent of Victorian adults considered that gambling had done more harm than good (with little difference between the views of gamblers and non-gamblers). Looking at all Australian surveys, roughly 80 percent of the public wants to see video slot machines removed or their numbers reduced.
* Many people who do not fit the strict criteria for problem gambling are found to experience significant harms. For example, of those people who said that gambling had affected their job performance, some 60 percent were not categorized as ‘problem gamblers.’
* 39 percent of high risk problem gamblers suffered adverse effects on workplace performance.
* Had there been full knowledge at the time about the harmful effects of substantially increasing accessibility to gaming machines in the 1990s, a different model of liberalization, with less widespread accessibility, may well have been seen as appropriate. Western Australia did not follow the approach of other jurisdictions and appears to have far fewer gambling problems.
* The effect of widespread gambling machine availability on the economy can be seen in Australia, where gambling losses reached 3.1 percent of household consumption, 6.3 percent in Northern Australia.
* Beyond the powerful example provided by the early liberalization experiences of Australia, there is a broad range of evidence suggesting a link between proximity and harm.
* 60 percent of Australian teens gamble on video slot machines by the time they are 18 years of age. Over 60 percent of Aussie teens have gambled in some form before they reached 18 years.
* Increased knowledge of gambling in children may have the unintended consequence of intensifying harmful behavior, a risk that should be considered in the design (or even in considering the introduction) of school-based programs. Nevertheless, several insights emerge from the drug, alcohol and driver education literature that may increase the effectiveness of any school-based gambling education programs and potentially reduce the risks of adverse behavioral responses: a school-based education program may be more effective if accompanied by a corresponding change in societal attitudes and a media campaign. For instance, the relatively greater success of school-based tobacco programs (compared with alcohol) is attributed to the fact that these were accompanied by consistent anti–smoking messages in the general media and to the emergence of a strong anti–smoking social movement.
* Australian gamblers are estimated to lose A$790 million per year, about 4 percent of the size of legal gambling, in illegal online gambling and Internet casinos.
* The report found that slot machines are between 6 and 18 times more risky than lotteries
* Around 50 per cent of gaming machine gamblers have false beliefs about how gaming machines work, which pose risks to them…’Faulty cognition’ about slot machine design is strongly associated with problem gambling. 33 percent of high-risk problem gamblers, 20 percent of moderate risk, and 5 percent of recreational gamblers believe that a gambler is more likely to win on a slot machine after losing many times in a row. Some groups of consumers — such as people with intellectual or mental health disabilities, poor English skills, and those who are emotionally fragile (say due to grief) — may be particularly vulnerable to problems when gambling.