tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/pokies-794/articlesPokies – The Conversation2023-07-17T06:11:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2098572023-07-17T06:11:05Z2023-07-17T06:11:05ZVictoria cracks down on pokies but supporters fear interest groups could hold the winning hand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537682/original/file-20230717-116180-3d566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=239%2C194%2C4738%2C2979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/slot-machine-casino?mreleased=true&image_type=photo">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The centrepiece of the <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/landmark-reforms-reduce-gambling-related-harm">Andrews’ government pokie reform announcement</a> is the introduction of a carded system for users of poker machines.</p>
<p>Such a <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/pre-commitment-systems-electronic-gambling-machines">pre-commitment system</a> will require pokie users to register for an account linked to a gaming card which will record a limit of how much they are prepared to lose daily, weekly and monthly.</p>
<p>Once that limit has been reached, the system will not allow further gambling.
Because all pokies in the state are linked, this limit will apply across machines and across venues.</p>
<p>Other proposed reforms include:</p>
<p>• slowing down the spin rate of new machines to a minimum of three seconds (currently 2.14 seconds)</p>
<p>• requiring all venues close between 4am and 10am</p>
<p>• reducing the “load up limit” (the amount that can be credited on a poker machine at any one time) to $100, down from the current $1,000</p>
<p>• the transfer of significant education, research funding, and counselling services away from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.</p>
<p>The government says it wants to undertake “thorough consultation with industry through an implementation working group” before the pre-commitment and reduced load up limits are introduced. This will be a red flag for many public health researchers and practitioners working in gambling harm prevention.</p>
<h2>The power of vested interest groups</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ias.org.uk/report/8606/">Harmful commodity industries</a> – tobacco, alcohol, highly processed foods, and gambling - are well resourced. They have a long history of thwarting or watering down important reforms.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Finger pressing play button on pokie machine" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537686/original/file-20230717-230476-yzqhp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The gaming lobby, like the tobacco and alcohol lobbies, are well resourced to campaign against regulation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>For this reason, the World Health Organization urges its members to protect people from the commercial interests of tobacco. This includes <a href="https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-19-ftct/19-3-who-fctc-guiding-principles-and-general-obligations-">rejecting partnerships with industry</a>.</p>
<p>The more time they have, the more likely the gambling industry is to campaign with their considerable strength against these reforms. This worked with great effect in 2010-11 <a href="https://insidestory.org.au/the-lobby-group-that-got-much-more-bang-for-its-buck/">against the then Gillard government’s</a> proposals for a similar harm prevention system.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-strong-hand-to-tackle-gambling-harm-will-it-go-all-in-or-fold-208749">Australia has a strong hand to tackle gambling harm. Will it go all in or fold?</a>
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<p>Misinformation, disinformation and endlessly disputing the scientific evidence are all <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0087389">tobacco industry</a> tactics. They delayed reform for many years.</p>
<p>Consulting with a harmful commodity industry on the design of a new system is like consulting with the fox over the design of the new hen house. It’s not going to produce a solution.</p>
<p>It is also puzzling that the government needs to consult on how to introduce precommitment. A voluntary system called <a href="https://www.yourplay.com.au/">YourPlay</a> has been in place for some years, and provides all necessary functions. However, because it’s voluntary, it has very low uptake, and is potentially stigmatising.</p>
<p>For these reasons, <a href="https://www.justice.vic.gov.au/safer-communities/gambling/evaluation-of-yourplay-final-report">it doesn’t achieve what it could</a>. But this system could readily be converted into a universal system.</p>
<p>Doing so would provide pokie users with a set of tools to manage their gambling. This will be particularly useful for those concerned about descending into the spiral of harmful gambling. It is a definite preventive intervention.</p>
<h2>Measures being introduced locally and overseas</h2>
<p>In Tasmania, the Liberal government surprised all by announcing last year that a <a href="https://www.premier.tas.gov.au/site_resources_2015/additional_releases/nation-leading-card-based-gaming-with-pre-commitment-a-first-in-tasmania">pokies pre-commitment system</a> would be introduced by 2024.</p>
<p>The system would apply on all machines in the state from December 2024. It would impose maximum limits of $100 per day, $500 per month and $5,000 per year. Notably, the announcement surprised the gambling industry, which had campaigned fiercely for the Liberal Party in the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-09/tasmanian-hospitality-association-to-have-funding-boost/9530864">2018 Tasmanian election</a>. The system will be provided on a fee-for-service model to venue operators.</p>
<p>In NSW, the former Dominic Perrottet coalition went to the 2022 poll with a detailed proposal to introduce a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/perrottet-on-a-winner-as-advocates-and-mps-praise-pokies-reform-20230206-p5cicb.html">cashless precommitment system</a> for the state’s pokie venues. This was opposed by the gambling industry – notably the [Australian Hotels Association, and the peak body for clubs, ClubsNSW.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537690/original/file-20230717-234969-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Former premier Dominic Perrottet went to the NSW election proposing significant gambling reforms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/perrottet?image_type=photo">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The then ALP opposition backed the industry position, promising a trial of cashless pre-commitment, along with some minor reforms. These ban signage for VIP lounges (code for pokie rooms) and reduce the load-up limit on new machines to $500.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-s-cashless-pokies-trial-to-be-expanded-20230713-p5do0q.html">expert panel to guide the cashless trial</a> in NSW was announced on 13 July 2023. The trial itself is yet to begin.</p>
<p>A system providing <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283512757_Gambling_and_gambling_policy_in_Norway-an_exceptional_case">precommitment for all forms of gambling</a> in Norway was introduced in 2009. This has been regarded as a notable success, and a similar system has been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434127/">implemented in Sweden</a>.</p>
<p>Closer to home, the report of the House of Representatives committee inquiring into online gambling in Australia was published recently. It urged the Australian government, among its <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Report/List_of_recommendations">31 recommendations</a>, to explore mandatory pre-commitment for online gambling. It also proposed a National Regulator to provide uniform national regulatory standards for gambling.</p>
<p>There’s no doubt momentum for significant reform of gambling is building in Australia. The drivers for this are to be found in the increasing awareness of the nature and extent of gambling harm. This includes the costs of money laundering and associated criminal activity which imposes great harm on the community.</p>
<p>In NSW, the <a href="https://www.crimecommission.nsw.gov.au/inquiry-into-money-laundering-in-pubs-and-clubs">2022 Crime Commission report</a> into money laundering in pokies clubs and pubs sounded a major alarm. But, more generally, a new focus on using a public health lens to view gambling harm is a major development. The industry’s favoured approach, “responsible gambling”, <a href="https://www.greo.ca/Modules/EvidenceCentre/files/Livingstone%20and%20Rintoul%20(2020)_Moving%20on%20from%20responsible%20gambling_final.pdf">blames vulnerable individuals for the problem</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-gambling-reform-ideas-from-overseas-to-save-australia-from-gambling-loss-and-harm-165387">4 gambling reform ideas from overseas to save Australia from gambling loss and harm</a>
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<p>A <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1807">public health view</a> means the focus is on harmful products, and the way they are marketed, made accessible, and cause harm.</p>
<h2>Getting the reforms through</h2>
<p>If these reforms are implemented in full, they will dramatically reduce harm. What worries the gambling industry is that it will also reduce their profits, probably quite significantly. This is because their best customers are <a href="https://www.greo.ca/Modules/EvidenceCentre/files/GREO%20(2019)%20Evidence%20brief%20Proportion%20of%20revenue%20from%20problem%20gambling.pdf">people experiencing significant harm</a> from the use of their products.</p>
<p>Pokies are responsible for between <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36729109/">51% and 57% of the gambling problems</a> in Australia.</p>
<p>For this reason, tackling pokie harm is an obvious step. Unfortunately, the gambling industry will not accept these changes quietly. Past experience suggests a concerted effort from industry to derail the reforms though procrastination and delay.</p>
<p>The Andrews government already has the wherewithal to implement these reforms quickly. If it’s genuinely committed to reducing harm, it should do so, without further delay.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, the Turkish Red Crescent Society, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He was a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Lancet Public Health Commission into gambling, and of the World Health Organisation expert group on gambling and gambling harm. He made a submission to and appeared before the HoR Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm.</span></em></p>The Victorian government has announced major reforms intended to reduce harm caused by poker machines.Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1993822023-02-08T00:56:09Z2023-02-08T00:56:09ZNSW pokies reforms will do much to limit problem gambling and money laundering<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508713/original/file-20230207-25-3v9dap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bianca de Marchi/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The New South Wales government has embraced <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/pokies-to-be-cashless-2028-under-historic-changes">a sweeping set of reforms</a> to the state’s massive poker machine business. These reforms are centred on a “cashless gaming” system linked to pre-commitment. This system will require those who wish to use pokies in NSW to register for an account, provide high-integrity ID, set a limit for their pokie losses, and link this to a personal bank account. </p>
<h2>Why is this needed?</h2>
<p>NSW is effectively the heartland of Australia’s pokie business. In 2022, the 89,000 poker machines in NSW’s clubs and pubs are <a href="https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/resources/gaming-machine-data">expected to rake in A$7.5 billion</a>. </p>
<p>Much of this money comes from areas of significant disadvantage. In western and south-western Sydney, the local government areas of Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown, for example, are <a href="https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/resources/gaming-machine-data">on track</a> to contribute over $1.2 billion of that alone, or an average of $2,785 per adult.</p>
<p>Pokies, or gaming machines, are now clearly recognised as Australia’s most harmful gambling form. <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/aop/article-10.1556-2006.2022.00083/article-10.1556-2006.2022.00083.xml#B62">A recent research paper</a> calculates that pokies are responsible for between 52% and 57% of Australia’s serious gambling harm. Pokies in pubs and clubs are also responsible for 51% of gambling losses overall – $13 billion per year. </p>
<p>Other gambling forms lag far behind this distressing calculus. Wagering on races and on sports, for example, contributes between 20% and 25% of the gambling harm total.</p>
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<h2>What does pre-commitment do?</h2>
<p>Pre-commitment involves a requirement that every person who registers for an account to use pokies in NSW must set a personal limit on their pokie losses, tied to a certain period of time – a day, week, month or year. Limits may be lowered at any time, but only increased once every seven days. </p>
<p>The Tasmanian government <a href="https://www.premier.tas.gov.au/site_resources_2015/additional_releases/nation-leading-card-based-gaming-with-pre-commitment-a-first-in-tasmania">recently announced</a> it would roll out such a system from 2024. In Tasmania, there will be pre-set limits. These are $100 per day, $500 per month, and $5,000 per year. </p>
<p>The NSW proposals do not include any pre-set limits, although this is open to consideration. An expert working group and multi-departmental taskforce will fine-tune multiple aspects of the proposal. </p>
<p>In any event, people need to be supported via the system software and venue staff to set reasonable limits. Staff need training and support to do this, and protection from venue managers pushing for maximum profits. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-new-gambling-taglines-are-a-start-but-go-nowhere-near-far-enough-193716">Government's new gambling taglines are a start, but go nowhere near far enough</a>
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<p>Cashless systems, tied to a single bank account and requiring a high standard of identification, will make money laundering via pokies very difficult. The digital trail will ensure any suspicious activity can be red-flagged by law enforcement authorities. Subject to a warrant, police can identify and investigate data for individuals concerned. </p>
<p>This will be the only way such data can be used. Neither government nor venues will have access. Individuals will be able to see their own records. This of itself is an important harm-minimisation initiative.</p>
<p>A cashless system on its own won’t help people with harmful gambling habits better manage, or stop, their gambling. NSW Opposition Leader <a href="https://thelatch.com.au/cashless-gaming-nsw/">Chris Minns</a> has repeatedly asserted that cashless gaming will lead to more problems. He has referred to Victorian research that he claims demonstrates this. </p>
<p>However, the <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/what-is-the-impact-of-cashless-gaming-on-gambling-behaviour-and-harm-1021/">research in question</a> was focused on moving to cashless gaming on its own, in the context of Victorian regulators permitting “tokenisation” of gambling credits. It did not consider the merits of linking pre-commitment to such systems. Indeed, the report found: </p>
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<p>Many of the benefits of cashless gaming have been conflated with the benefits of other gambling harm-minimisation tools (e.g. player tracking, pre-commitment effects have been confused with the effects of cashless gaming).</p>
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<p>However, linking pre-commitment and a cashless system will be a major step towards reducing gambling harm and eliminating this form of money laundering.
The system will also require regular breaks in pokie use (for example, a 15-minute break after 90 minutes of use). We know from the first round of tobacco restrictions some years ago that taking a break allows time for reflection. When people are “in the zone” on a poker machine, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691160887/addiction-by-design">their rationality is suspended</a>. But away from the machine, reality has a chance of intervening.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508735/original/file-20230207-15-bzyzdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508735/original/file-20230207-15-bzyzdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508735/original/file-20230207-15-bzyzdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508735/original/file-20230207-15-bzyzdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508735/original/file-20230207-15-bzyzdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508735/original/file-20230207-15-bzyzdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508735/original/file-20230207-15-bzyzdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Being forced to take a break from pokie playing is an important circuit-breaker for problem gambling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
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<p>Pre-commitment, in effect, <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/105516">gives people a new tool</a> to manage their gambling. It’s important to remember that even those suffering under the influence of a serious gambling addiction have lucid moments – away from the machines. </p>
<p>The new system will allow people to give effect to their best intentions, including includes those who wish to stop gambling. The new system will be linked to a statewide self-exclusion register, meaning those who wish to self-exclude can do so effectively for the first time. This is a major breakthrough in itself.</p>
<p>If the system is “future proofed”, as it should be, it must have capacity to incorporate regular reminders of how much the user has lost over their sessions of pokie use. Where gambling activity demonstrates a likely pattern consistent with increasing harm, that should be flagged, and players should be sent an automated text or email suggesting avenues for assistance. </p>
<p>Regular statements of activity need to be available (as with online gambling) and tailored warning messages may be much more effective than bland requests to “gamble responsibly”. All of these should be available via this system.</p>
<p>There is also $350 million on offer to encourage clubs to diversify their revenue sources and to provide incentives to join the rollout of the new system. <a href="https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/products/78656">Large clubs in NSW</a> often rely on poker machines <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-fundamentally-changed-the-social-fabric-of-nsw-how-clubs-got-hooked-on-pokies-20221110-p5bx6p.html">for 80% or more</a> of their total revenue. This is a major reason clubs are reluctant to embrace reform.</p>
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<h2>Old machines need to be replaced</h2>
<p>The new system is to be rolled out over a five-year time-frame. This is almost certainly longer than needed. The majority of pokies in NSW can be retrofitted with hardware and software to make the system work as intended. </p>
<p>However, there are 30,000 or so machines that are too old. This will include machines that <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-16/nsw-labor-gambling-reform-policy-trial-cashless-gambling-/101859262">continue to allow $10,000</a> to be inserted at once – perfect for money laundering. Such machines need to be replaced as a high priority. Unless this is achieved quickly, they will be magnets for money laundering’s last hurrah through pokies.</p>
<p>Pokies in NSW are all linked by a statewide monitoring system. This is used mostly to protect revenue, but can be enhanced as necessary to incorporate the proposed system.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pubs-and-clubs-your-friendly-neighbourhood-money-laundering-service-thanks-to-86-640-pokies-193312">Pubs and clubs – your friendly neighbourhood money-laundering service, thanks to 86,640 pokies</a>
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<h2>So … will it work?</h2>
<p>The technical issues are serious, but not overly difficult. Victoria has been running a <a href="https://www.justice.vic.gov.au/safer-communities/gambling/evaluation-of-yourplay-final-report">voluntary pre-commitment system</a> for years without technical problems. Unfortunately, because it’s voluntary, it is little used. </p>
<p>A universal system is far preferable. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26537997/">Strong evidence from Norway</a> indicates it will reduce gambling harm. It is almost certain it will produce a dramatic reduction in pokies-based money laundering.</p>
<p>If implemented (a big if, relying on the Perrottet government’s re-election) these reforms will be highly significant. For the first time in NSW since pokies were introduced in 1956, pokie gamblers will be able to manage their gambling effectively. And <a href="https://theconversation.com/pubs-and-clubs-your-friendly-neighbourhood-money-laundering-service-thanks-to-86-640-pokies-193312">money laundering at the local pub or club</a> will become a thing of the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, the Turkish Red Crescent Society, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He was a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Lancet Public Health Commission into gambling, and of the World Health Organisation expert group on gambling and gambling harm.</span></em></p>NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has convinced his cabinet to back major pokie reforms, and they will be a vast improvement on the current situation.Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1806782022-04-29T02:08:24Z2022-04-29T02:08:24ZBingo seems like harmless fun – but higher stakes and new technology are making it more dangerous<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459703/original/file-20220426-16-un1vss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C11%2C3955%2C2632&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multicolored-bingo-balls-cage-sitting-600w-1372778951.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bingo, with its familiar rules, novelty number calls (“legs 11”, “two ducks swimming”) and social setting, has long had a reputation as harmless and friendly. </p>
<p>Also called “<a href="https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/community-gaming/charity-housie">housie</a>”, bingo is a game in which players mark numbers on a grid as a caller reads them out. The first person whose numbers are all called out cries “bingo” and wins. The game of chance is played in many different venues: from licensed bingo centres, to clubs like RSLs, in churches and nursing homes and, increasingly, online. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0033350622000452?via%3Dihub">new research</a> shows technological developments, large jackpots, and locating bingo in the same venue as pokies or other gambling products bring new risks to players. Bingo’s innocuous reputation is due for a rethink.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-told-to-gamble-responsibly-but-what-does-that-actually-mean-130949">We're told to 'gamble responsibly'. But what does that actually mean?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A different crowd</h2>
<p>Around <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/study-of-gambling-and-health-in-victoria-findings-from-the-victorian-prevalence-study-2014-72/">18,000 Victorian adults</a> play bingo at least once a year. </p>
<p>The game attracts a different demographic to other forms of gambling. Bingo players are often <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14747731.2016.1164981">women</a>, <a href="https://jgi.camh.net/index.php/jgi/article/view/3829">older</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-018-9779-6">Indigenous</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-006-9030-8">poorer</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/sites/default/files/publication-documents/rr-gambling_activity_in_australia_0.pdf">Almost a third</a> of Australian bingo players have gambling problems, although it is unclear if these problems relate to bingo or to other games. </p>
<p>A US study found <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-08822-2">more than a quarter</a> of bingo players were classified as problem gamblers. But bingo has generally been overlooked by <a href="https://criticalgamblingstudies.com/index.php/cgs/article/view/89">researchers</a>, <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/lucky-for-some-bingo-in-victoria-975/">policy makers and regulators</a>. </p>
<p>We conducted the first <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/lucky-for-some-bingo-in-victoria-975/">major study of bingo</a> in Australia. We spoke with Aboriginal and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14695405211022082">Pacific Islander</a> people in regional Victoria, older people on fixed incomes in Melbourne, and experts. We also attended bingo sessions across Victoria. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gambling-what-happens-in-the-brain-when-we-get-hooked-and-how-to-regain-control-176901">Gambling: what happens in the brain when we get hooked – and how to regain control</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>‘I get lonely and bored’</h2>
<p>People told us they liked bingo’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10548400902976513">social connection</a>, its relative cheapness and predictability. </p>
<p>As one participant said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve got no one at home […] I get lonely and bored and I just go to bingo. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01639620050184645">chance of winning money</a>, escape from responsibilities and stress, and cognitive stimulation were also appealing. An older research participant told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’re in another world when you’re at bingo. You have to concentrate. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A minority of study participants described harms from playing bingo, but they were significant for those experiencing them. One player noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think (bingo) has a more negative effect because, just as an Indigenous community […] we have less income, we’re from poor socio-economic backgrounds.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Increased dangers</h2>
<p>Risks associated with bingo have increased over time. </p>
<p>Historically, the game has been played with paper books and pens. Playing multiple games at a time requires great concentration, but experienced players can manage up to six “books” (grids) at a time. </p>
<p>Now, personal electronic tablets (PETs) are available in bingo centres and some RSLs. These tablets can be loaded with up to 200 games at once and automatically cross off numbers for players. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-015-9557-y">Canadian research</a> suggests tablets offer a similar gaming experience to electronic gambling machines, otherwise known as “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/26/australia-gambling-addiction/">pokies</a>”. Fast play and flashing lights captivate players. </p>
<p>Tablets let people purchase and play many more games than they could on paper. One expert told us they’d seen venues where 48 “books” could be purchased via tablet, at a total cost of $600.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="bingo sheets" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459705/original/file-20220426-18-utki8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Old school bingo grids made it challenging to play multiple games at once. New technology makes it easier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-concept-top-view-pile-600w-1255858021.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sports-betting-how-in-play-betting-features-could-be-leading-to-harmful-gambling-new-research-177872">Sports betting: how in-play betting features could be leading to harmful gambling – new research</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Rules vary</h2>
<p>Regulation of bingo varies across Australia. In some places, including <a href="https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/gambling-regulation-act-2003/084">Victoria</a>, bingo at licensed centres must generate funds for charities.</p>
<p>Rule changes in Victoria have created more expensive bingo games and larger prizes. These changes include abolishing bans on rolling jackpots, removing caps on the cost of books, and allowing more people to play each session. </p>
<p>Licensed bingo centres now offer jackpots of up to $450,000, which may be rolling (accrued across games in one centre) or linked (merged across different centres). Large jackpots mean fewer people win and more people lose.</p>
<p>Several participants in our study spoke of people spending up to $1,200 to attend a “package” or multiple-game session. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-08822-2">more forms of gambling a person engages in</a>, the greater their chance of having problems. Bingo can’t legally be offered alongside pokies in licensed bingo centres in Victoria, but this is allowed in clubs and hotels. </p>
<p>Our research suggests that in pokie venues, bingo is a “loss leader” – to draw players in, then encourage them to move on to other forms of gambling. One person told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I got trouble, you know, from going to bingo because sometimes when I go to bingo […] and then I win money, and then I’m thinking of like, you know, not only the bingo. I go across to the gamble machine and I keep playing there. So instead of like, save the money to take back to the family.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Victoria, Crown Casino stopped offering bingo under the spotlight of a <a href="https://www.rccol.vic.gov.au/">Royal Commission</a>, but previously provided free bingo with breaks where players <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/lucky-for-some-bingo-in-victoria-975/">moved</a> to pokie machines and gaming tables. </p>
<p>In February, Tabcorp and Lottoland were awarded Victorian licences to operate Keno live lottery gambling until 2042, <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/tabcorp-and-lottoland-awarded-victorias-keno-licences">including in bingo centres</a>. This expands the range of commercial gambling products sold in bingo venues.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="RSL club with lots of pokie machines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459707/original/file-20220426-14-82ld8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bingo co-located with pokies in RSL clubs make for tempting combinations for gamblers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/interior-photography-bar-pokies-room-600w-1717091413.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lesser of gambling evils</h2>
<p>Bingo causes less grief than other forms of gambling. Some people describe playing bingo for hours for $20–30, making it a cheap outing. </p>
<p>Capping costs for games and jackpots, limiting the games that can be played on tablets and keeping bingo separate from other gambling opportunities would help retain the benefits it offers – and stop people from spending money they don’t have.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Gamblers help can be found <a href="https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/">online</a> or by calling 1800 858 858.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors would like to thank the organisations that partnered in this research: Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative (GEGAC), Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council (SMECC) and COTA Victoria. John Cox, Annalyss Thompson and Jasmine Kirirua worked as researchers on the project. We are also grateful to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and particularly Lindsay Shaw.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah J MacLean is a member of the Australian Greens. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Lee has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Maltzahn has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. She is a member of the Australian Greens Victoria. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Whiteside has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation </span></em></p>New technology, big jackpots and rubbery regulation means bingo’s friendly reputation is due for a rethink.Sarah J MacLean, Associate professor, La Trobe UniversityHelen Lee, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, La Trobe UniversityKathleen Maltzahn, La Trobe UniversityMary Whiteside, Adjunct Associate Professor, Social Work and Social Policy, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1379952020-06-04T03:43:13Z2020-06-04T03:43:13ZThere’s another health crisis looming – what happens when the pokies switch back on?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339667/original/file-20200604-130923-q06zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the COVID-19 restrictions came into force more than two months ago, it meant lights out for the country’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-27/australia-goes-cold-turkey-on-pokies-coronavirus/12188374#:%7E:text=The%20glitter%20and%20sparkle%20of,as%20part%20of%20coronavirus%20restrictions.">200,000</a> poker machines. </p>
<p>Now, the pokies are slowly turning on again across the country. This week, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-wa-toddler-diagnosed-with-covid19/live-coverage/285c1568e7fa1034bf8233ba93e4cfe5">NSW became the first state</a> to allow venues to reopen, with certain rules mandating patrons keep 1.5 metres apart. </p>
<p>While the health risks certainly need to be considered, there appears to be little to no thought being given to managing the risks of gambling harm that might come from restarting the machines after such an extensive break. </p>
<p>The economic recession and massive job losses make the situation even more worrisome. We know when people experience financial hardship, they are more likely to gamble. And at-risk gamblers, particularly, are <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2018/12/CSMR_WP9_2018_GAMBLINGRISK.pdf">more likely</a> to experience significant financial hardship over the long-term.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/15-things-you-should-know-about-australias-love-affair-with-pokies-49230">15 things you should know about Australia's love affair with pokies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A compulsory break from gambling</h2>
<p>When clubs, casinos and hotels were shuttered in late March, there were fears that “pokie” players could transition to online forms of gambling. </p>
<p>We have limited evidence, so far, as to the actual uptake of other forms of gambling during the lockdown. However, a <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2019/10/2019-ACT-Gambling-Survey.pdf">survey of gamblers</a> conducted in the ACT last year found that only 0.8% of gamblers engaged in offshore casino or pokie gambling. </p>
<p>Research in <a href="https://www.responsiblegambling.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/280537/NSW-Gambling-Survey-2019-report-FINAL-AMENDED-Mar-2020.pdf">NSW</a> has also found that only 2.3% of 18- to 24-year-olds played internet casino games and just 0.8% played online poker. These percentage decreased among older age brackets. </p>
<p>One of the main reasons is that online casino and poker machine gambling is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/illegal-offshore-gambling-websites-to-be-blocked-by-australian-internet-providers-20191110-p53963.html">illegal</a> in Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-pokies-shut-down-coronavirus-stress-could-drive-more-people-to-reckless-online-gambling-134397">With pokies shut down, coronavirus stress could drive more people to reckless online gambling</a>
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</em>
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<p>So, for your average Australian pokie player, the current closure of pokie venues is a compulsory break – a time when the constant “do I” or “don’t I” debate in people’s minds is temporarily suspended. </p>
<p>There will be many pokie players who will take this opportunity to turn their backs on the machines once and for all. </p>
<h2>What if alcohol sales had been banned – and then reintroduced?</h2>
<p>Although figures differ marginally across jurisdictions, approximately <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2019/10/2019-ACT-Gambling-Survey.pdf">10% of the adult population</a> in Australia could be considered to be an at-risk or problem gambler.</p>
<p>Further to this, <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2019/10/2019-ACT-Gambling-Survey.pdf">one in three people</a> who play EGMs <strong>expand at first ref</strong> are considered at-risk or problem gamblers gamblers. This is assessed consistently across states using the <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/for-professionals/health-and-community-professionals/problem-gambling-severity-index-pgsi/">Problem Gambling Severity Index</a>, which asks questions such as, “have you felt you might have a problem with gambling?” and “has gambling caused financial problems for you or your household?”</p>
<p><a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v148y2020i1d10.1007_s11205-019-02194-w.html">Pre-COVID-19 analysis</a> conducted by the ANU Centre for Gambling Research found that problem gamblers experience significantly worse social and economic outcomes than people without gambling problems – and these poorer outcomes are long-term. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-pokie-operators-are-not-nearly-as-charitable-as-they-claim-124085">New research shows pokie operators are not nearly as charitable as they claim</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>On top of this, the isolation and uncertainty caused by COVID-19 has <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-flatten-the-other-coronavirus-curve-our-looming-mental-health-crisis-137170">triggered or exacerbated many mental health problems</a> in our communities, particularly among at-risk gamblers. </p>
<p>This is why the reopening of venue doors is of such concern – it could result in the unleashing of months of pent-up angst for at-risk gamblers. Governments need to be thinking about harm reduction strategies now. </p>
<p>If alcohol purchases had been restricted during the lock-down period, for example, it would be reasonable to assume that harm-minimisation strategies would need to be put in place to manage the reintroduction of alcohol. </p>
<p>This is no different to the reintroduction of pokies. </p>
<h2>Recommendations for minimising harm</h2>
<p>As a result of COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, there will likely be requirements on venues to enforce social distancing (as in NSW) or limit the time patrons can spend on one machine or in the venue. </p>
<p>Restricting session time on machines to a maximum of one hour, for example, would help reduce gambling harm. We know from the 2019 ACT gambling survey that people who typically spend one hour or more in a single session are more likely to be <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2019/10/2019-ACT-Gambling-Survey.pdf">at-risk gamblers</a>.</p>
<p>Other suggestions to minimise gambling harm when restarting machines include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>public information campaigns detailing the risks associated with EGM play. This would assist people to make informed choices about whether to play again and what that means for their lives</p></li>
<li><p>more counselling and financial services support to help people who have effectively “self-excluded” from gambling during the shutdown to continue to do so. <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2019/10/2019-ACT-Gambling-Survey.pdf">Research in ACT</a> has found the vast majority of people (90%) who have gambled in the past 12 months wanted support to cut back or stop</p></li>
<li><p>regulators need to be extra vigilant around inducements and advertising that will be used by venues to bring gamblers back. We need to ensure this isn’t predatory.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>This is a golden opportunity for state and territory governments to provide support to clubs to diversify their business models and reduce the numbers of machines on their premises. </p>
<p>It will also be crucial to monitor the harm when the machines come back on. Most jurisdictions have recently conducted gambling prevalence surveys, and there should be a staged data collection process to monitor any trends in behaviour. </p>
<p>The gambling industry sector in all the other states and territories will likely lobby governments hard to reopen soon. And governments will likely be eager to see the revenue stream of EGM taxation begin flowing again. </p>
<p>However, without the implementation of substantial harm-minimisation strategies to manage the re-introduction of pokies in our communities, we will likely see a significant increase in gambling harm in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marisa Paterson receives research funding from state and territory governments around Australia. Her current research projects are funded by the Northern Territory Government and the New South Wales Government. Marisa is also a political candidate for the 2020 election to the ACT Legislative Assembly.
Marisa has never received funding from the gambling industry.</span></em></p>Pokie venues are starting to reopen across the country. For at-risk gamblers, this is a worrying time as they emerge from a long compulsory break from playing.Marisa Paterson, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1343972020-04-01T23:55:50Z2020-04-01T23:55:50ZWith pokies shut down, coronavirus stress could drive more people to reckless online gambling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324156/original/file-20200330-65514-1uc87xv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Pubs, clubs and casinos have all been closed as part of the response to COVID-19. That means Australia’s <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/statistics/theme/society/gambling/australian-gambling-statistics">194,000</a> poker machines are now shut down. These venues, and their machines, are not expected to re-open anytime soon. </p>
<p>It also means the <a href="https://www.responsiblegambling.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/280537/NSW-Gambling-Survey-2019-report-FINAL-AMENDED-Mar-2020.pdf">15-25% of the population who use pokies</a> (depending on the jurisdiction) will not be able to get access to them. </p>
<p>Further, assuming the shutdown lasts six months, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison <a href="https://theconversation.com/scott-morrison-has-said-well-face-at-least-6-months-of-disruption-where-does-that-number-come-from-134025">has flagged</a>, pokie operators will forego about <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/statistics/theme/society/gambling/australian-gambling-statistics">A$7.5 billion</a> in pokies revenue. That’s the amount punters would normally lose to pokies in casinos, pubs and clubs over that period. </p>
<h2>A relief from stress and boredom</h2>
<p>For some intermittent pokie users, this will be no big deal. For others battling a pokie addiction, the shutdown could bring a sigh of relief, limiting the opportunity to fuel a habit they know does them (and their families) significant harm.</p>
<p>For other high-risk gamblers, there may be a strong temptation to shift their gambling habit online. In some cases, pokie users will already have online accounts. Others may not. We can anticipate online bookies doing their best to convert such people into more regular – and lucrative – customers during the COVID-19 crisis. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/restricting-underage-access-to-porn-and-gambling-sites-a-good-idea-but-technically-tricky-133153">Restricting underage access to porn and gambling sites: a good idea, but technically tricky</a>
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<p>What we call <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/psychosocial-stressor">psycho-social stress</a> is a key <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(17)30467-4/fulltext">driver of high-risk</a> and addictive gambling. </p>
<p>There will be few situations more stressful – and at the same time boring – than what we can expect to endure over the coming months.</p>
<p>Access to unanticipated lump sums of money could also be a factor in driving more people to online gambling. The government <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/up-to-27-billion-to-be-withdrawn-from-super-20200322-p54cmr">will allow people</a> to withdraw up to $20,000 from their super accounts over this and the next financial year. </p>
<p>For some, that could prove dangerous.</p>
<h2>Creative new ways to induce people to bet</h2>
<p>In the United Kingdom, some politicians are concerned the stress and anxiety of self-isolation and social distancing will induce risky online gambling. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/22/coronavirus-gambling-firms-urged-to-impose-betting-cap-of-50-a-day">They have been imploring the government</a>
to restrict online bet sizes and impose deposit limits for betting accounts following the shutdown of offline gambling venues. </p>
<p>In the US, too, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/shut-virus-gamblers-turning-online-betting-69650789">online bookies and casinos</a> have seen revenues spike as casinos have shut down. </p>
<p>Much of this will be replicated in Australia. If online gambling does increase here, there could be long-lasting repercussions – what social justice advocate Tim Costello once called the phenomenon of “<a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F2008-08-27%2F0161%22;src1=sm1">losing your house without having to leave it</a>”.</p>
<p>As the Australian sporting codes shut down, events that provide the grist for the gambling mill will become harder to find. Punters may be tempted to gamble on automated casino-style games in European countries where this is permitted. </p>
<p>Australians can get access to offshore sites (using them is not an offence), although the Australian Communications and Media Authority has started asking ISPs to block specific sites it identifies.</p>
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<p>Gambling markets are also now available on a multitude of national and international events. For instance, Australian bookmakers are heavily promoting horse-racing – one of few sporting events that haven’t been cancelled globally. More obscure sporting events are also being advertised, such as the Table Tennis Cup in the Ukraine. </p>
<p>“Return to action” markets are also being offered on major international sporting events. For instance, Australian punters are able to bet on whether the next NBA game will be played before June, July or August. </p>
<p>Markets are also being offered on e-sports, including the global <a href="https://pro.eslgaming.com/csgo/proleague/">ESL Pro League</a>, as well as the reality TV series Survivor All Stars.</p>
<p>Bookmakers have even offered over/under markets on the daily temperatures in the capital cities. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/place-your-bets-will-banning-illegal-offshore-sites-really-help-kick-our-gambling-habit-126838">Place your bets: will banning illegal offshore sites really help kick our gambling habit?</a>
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<p>Internationally, evidence suggests a shift from pokies (or other gambling venues) to online gambling <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19322645">does not substitute</a> for all of the revenue lost when pokies are shut down. If there were a direct transfer, bookies would see a $7.5 billion bonanza over the next six months. </p>
<p>But even a small proportion of that would be a big boost to bookies’ bottom lines.</p>
<p>Bookies are also among our <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/games-and-wagering/bookmakers-ad-spending-has-soared-to-more-than-500m-since-tv-ban-20191112-p539oh">biggest media advertisers</a>. There is nothing to suggest they won’t run ads during the crisis to try t persuade people stuck at home to open a gambling account.</p>
<p>This is particularly problematic given the clear evidence that <a href="https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-017-0131-8">young men</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6376397/">children</a> are vulnerable to the appeal strategies used in gambling advertising. </p>
<h2>What can we do about this?</h2>
<p>There are several policy options. The federal government has been active in the regulation of online gambling in recent years, persuading the states (which license and regulate gambling operators, including online) to adopt a <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/communities-and-vulnerable-people-programs-services-gambling/national-consumer-protection-framework-for-online-wagering">consumer protection framework</a>. </p>
<p>It would make sense to fast-track some new measures. The Australian Bankers Association recently <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/aba-calls-for-public-views-on-credit-card-use-in-gambling/">called for submissions</a> on restricting the use of credit cards in online gambling. </p>
<p>Credit betting was prohibited by the consumer protection framework, and credit cards can’t be used in ATM or EFTPOS machines in offline gambling venues. However, credit cards are routinely used to top up online gambling accounts. It is an excellent time to introduce a prohibition on credit cards across the board. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1244126464707977216"}"></div></p>
<p>It may also be prudent to legislate for an upper limit on deposits to gambling accounts, as advocated in the UK. This could apply to both the frequency of deposits and the amount. </p>
<p>A maximum bet limit amount could also be legislated during the COVID-19 crisis. Complementing this, a <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/pre-commitment-systems-electronic-gambling-machines-preventing-harm-and-imp">universal pre-commitment</a> system that requires people to set time or monetary limits before they gamble could also be introduced. This is how gambling works in Norway, as an example.</p>
<p>Simply shutting down online gambling in the states going into lockdown is another real option. We know that high rates of gambling are associated with increased rates of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953616302891?via%3Dihub">intimate partner violence</a>, as are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0886260517696876">disasters</a>. Already, we are seeing an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-27/coronavirus-domestic-family-violence-covid-19-surge/12096988">increase</a> in intimate partner violence related to the coronavirus crisis. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-long-way-to-go-on-responsible-gambling-101320">Australia has a long way to go on responsible gambling</a>
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<p>Some governments may see an online gambling shutdown as a reasonable response, given other gambling venues have closed almost entirely. And the loss of revenue to the states would be modest. </p>
<p>Victoria, for example, will lose about <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/budgetfiles201920.budget.vic.gov.au/2019-20+State+Budget+-+Statement+of+Finances.pdf">$96 million per month</a> in taxes from the pokies shutdown. Victoria’s taxes from online wagering are just $11 million per month by comparison. </p>
<p>One of the acts of a caring and compassionate society is to help people avoid the potential harm that an uptick in online gambling may induce. </p>
<p>Apart from anything else, restricting access to online gambling may also help those who seek to use the pokie shutdown to better manage their gambling. That alone would be a major benefit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand, and the Turkish Green Crescent Society. He was/is a Chief Investigator on (i) Australian Research Council funded projects researching (i) mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries, and (ii) effects of price changes on consumption of alcohol, tobacco and gambling. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Thomas receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Scheme, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, and the New South Wales Office of Gaming for research relating to gambling harm prevention. She has previously received funding for gambling research from the Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Scheme, and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. She has received travel expenses for gambling speaking engagements from the European Union, Beat the Odds Wales, the Office of Gaming and Racing ACT, and the Royal College of Psychiatry Wales. She is a member of the Responsible Gambling Advisory Board for Lotterywest. She does not receive financial reimbursement for this role.</span></em></p>With perhaps months stuck at home due to coronavirus, gamblers may be tempted to engage more heavily in online betting. New regulations are urgently needed to restrict online bet sizes and credit card use.Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversitySamantha Thomas, Professor of Public Health, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1328762020-04-01T02:06:13Z2020-04-01T02:06:13ZMost community bids to block pokies fail – the law is stacked against them too<p>Most Australians know you never end up winning on the pokies. What Australians might not know is that the odds of winning a case against a poker-machine proposal in their local neighbourhood are very poor too. My <a href="http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:162956">recent study</a> shows the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) approved almost 90% of poker-machine licence applications that came before it.</p>
<p>Although the commission must consider the views of the local council when making decisions, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-03/city-of-casey-decision-on-new-pokies/12018258">council opposition rarely stops a proposal</a>. These cases are hard to fight and win. They are very expensive and demanding. Should a Victorian council brave the fight, the <a href="http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:162956">odds of losing are as high as 80%</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pokies-sport-and-racing-harm-41-of-monthly-gamblers-survey-81486">Pokies, sport and racing harm 41% of monthly gamblers: survey</a>
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<p>Not all councils have the resources or appetite for such a battle. This is a problem for councils and communities. Their frustration about the lack of local influence on regulatory decision-making adds to their concerns about gambling harm in their community.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323444/original/file-20200326-133007-1ly88nm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323444/original/file-20200326-133007-1ly88nm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323444/original/file-20200326-133007-1ly88nm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323444/original/file-20200326-133007-1ly88nm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323444/original/file-20200326-133007-1ly88nm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323444/original/file-20200326-133007-1ly88nm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323444/original/file-20200326-133007-1ly88nm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Even when councils oppose an application for a poker-machine venue, the applicant wins up to 80% of the time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Hermes Furian/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>There’s a reason councils rarely win</h2>
<p>The question is why are these cases so hard to win? Especially when the Victorian regulatory system – under the <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/gra2003190/">Gambling Regulation Act 2003</a> and the <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/paea1987254/">Planning and Environment Act 1987</a> – specifically acknowledges the importance of local influence on the distribution of poker machines.</p>
<p>Regulatory and quasi-court procedures are notoriously complex and resource-demanding; this includes poker-machine regulation. However, less attention and scrutiny have been given to the assumptions and principles underpinning gambling policy and procedures. This is the source of councils’ difficulty in winning a case against poker machines.</p>
<p>The VCGLR approves poker machine licences if it <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/gra2003190/s3.3.7.html">considers</a> the “net economic and social impact of approval will not be detrimental to the well-being of the community”. This “<a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/key_factors_in_deciding_egm_applications_-_2019_1.pdf">no net detriment test</a>” involves a guesstimate of potential costs and benefits in relation to a proposal’s overall community impact.</p>
<p>The premise is that harm can be absorbed into benefits to serve the community as a whole – the majority of people. It’s a utilitarian approach to gambling policy that implies social harm can be costed. This means the nation’s joy of gambling can outweigh vulnerable people’s misery.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-flashing-lights-and-catchy-tunes-make-gamblers-take-more-risks-105852">How flashing lights and catchy tunes make gamblers take more risks</a>
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<p>Essentially, the VCGLR’s task is (indirectly) to estimate “how many happy gamblers does it take to make up for suicide, bankruptcy, domestic violence?”. All these <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/the-social-cost-of-gambling-to-victoria-121/">social harms</a> have been <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/assessing-gambling-related-harm-in-victoria-a-public-health-perspective-69">associated with gambling</a>. </p>
<p>This is crudely put, but it’s the social contract we enter into when accepting a cost-benefit approach to gambling policy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/areas-with-more-poker-machines-have-higher-rates-of-domestic-violence-66982">Areas with more poker machines have higher rates of domestic violence</a>
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<p>Apart from the ethical dilemma involved here, the cost-benefit approach to assessing poker-machine applications is highly problematic for local councils. </p>
<p>Social harm is notoriously difficult to cost. That makes it difficult to argue and easier to dismiss. The concerns that are most important to local communities cannot effectively be tabled on the regulatory agenda. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-pokie-operators-are-not-nearly-as-charitable-as-they-claim-124085">New research shows pokie operators are not nearly as charitable as they claim</a>
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<h2>The utilitarian approach is harmful</h2>
<p>Victoria’s regulatory system keeps the public debate focused on utility. The ethical basis of poker machines is neither addressed nor debated. </p>
<p>Getting better at costing gambling harm is not going to solve this problem for local councils. An assessment of utility implies the most vulnerable or disadvantaged members of a community must accept the harm burden of gambling so others can have more in the form the freedom to gamble and redistributed benefits - for example through state taxes derived from foker machine gambling. </p>
<p>Most of these poker machine taxes are drawn from these lower socio-economic areas. The inferior social and economic infrastructure of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-wins-from-big-gambling-in-australia-22930">disadvantaged areas</a> where <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1016847305942">pokies tend to be concentrated</a> adds to the injustice. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-wins-from-big-gambling-in-australia-22930">Who wins from 'Big Gambling' in Australia?</a>
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<p>The broad distribution of poker machines and associated <a href="https://theconversation.com/pokies-sport-and-racing-harm-41-of-monthly-gamblers-survey-81486">high levels of harm</a> are evidence of the failure of this cost-benefit approach. Regulatory decision-making isn’t properly assessing the real cost and harm poker machines cause. </p>
<p>The current approach fails to give enough weight to local concerns and meaningful participation and representation. As a result, the system falls short of meeting public expectations of fair and just regulation.</p>
<p>If councils and communities are to get a fairer go, a different policy approach is needed. It needs to be able to better consider the impacts of poker machines on local communities and social justice more generally. It’s time to rethink the use of cost-benefit analysis as the basis for gambling policy - and social policy more broadly. </p>
<p>Gaming regulation across Australia currently protects a very fragile justification for poker machines as legitimate social and economic infrastructure. It serves the gambling industry and state interests better than the well-being of local communities. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-why-governments-get-addicted-to-smoking-gambling-and-other-vices-115254">Vital Signs: why governments get addicted to smoking, gambling and other vices</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mette Hotker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How many happy gamblers, jobs and profits does it take to make up for the suicides, bankruptcies and domestic violence? Regulators must make cost-benefit guesstimates when considering applications.Mette Hotker, Lecturer in Social Planning, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1240852019-10-06T18:55:32Z2019-10-06T18:55:32ZNew research shows pokie operators are not nearly as charitable as they claim<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295371/original/file-20191003-49373-1kmehwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research has found that contributions to charitable causes by gambling operators amounted to just 1.5% of total net revenue during a three-year period in Victoria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gambling operators often seek to persuade governments and the public of their virtue by funding “good causes”. Lotteries, for example, have been used to fund such things as the <a href="https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/our-story/sydney-opera-house-facts.html">Sydney Opera House</a>, <a href="https://highgatehill-historical-vignettes.com/2018/01/06/golden-casket/">hospitals in Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/life-changing/where-the-money-goes">health, arts, sport and education initiatives in the UK</a>. </p>
<p>In Australia, and other countries, gambling operators are also required by law to donate some of their revenue for community and charitable purposes. In Victoria, for example, club pokie operators must document their contributions annually. This qualifies them for a reduction in gambling tax.</p>
<p>Our recently published <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16066359.2019.1663834">research</a> examined three years of these contributions in the state of Victoria. We sought to determine how much of the money claimed as benefits to the community did, in fact, reach such charitable or philanthropic causes.</p>
<p>What we found was that clubs donated mostly to themselves. Operating expenses accounted for the vast majority of ‘community benfits’. This is permitted under the regulations, but is strongly at odds with the claim that that clubs provide significant support to the community. </p>
<h2>What clubs are required to give under the law</h2>
<p>These charitable contribution schemes tacitly acknowledge that gambling is a harmful activity. It has significant costs to individuals, families, communities and government. </p>
<p>In Victoria, a study funded by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation estimated the social costs of gambling in the state at <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/the-social-cost-of-gambling-to-victoria-121/">$7 billion for 2017</a>. These costs include health impacts, relationship breakdowns and divorce, neglect of children, loss of major assets, bankruptcy, crime and imprisonment, and suicide. </p>
<p>Because of this, it’s important to know whether community contributions from gambling actually offset some or all of this harm. </p>
<p>Gambling losses in Victoria in 2017, meanwhile, totalled <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/statistics/theme/society/gambling/australian-gambling-statistics#current-release-australian-gambling-statistics">$5.5 billion</a>, and total state government revenue from gambling was <a href="https://www.dtf.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-02/state-budget-statement-of-finances-bp5-2016-17.pdf">$1.9 billion</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-crown-allegations-show-the-repeated-failures-of-our-gambling-regulators-121173">The Crown allegations show the repeated failures of our gambling regulators</a>
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<p>The Victorian community benefits scheme is unique in its relative transparency. Clubs are <a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/gambling/gaming-venue-operator/understand-your-gaming-licence/your-obligations/community-benefit">required by law to spend at least 8.33%</a> of total pokie losses on community contributions. </p>
<p>These community benefits are defined by a <a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/Ministerial%20order%20-%20Community%20benefit%20statements.pdf">ministerial direction</a>, last amended in 2012. This allows clubs to claim philanthropic, charitable, or benevolent contributions, as well as operating expenses.</p>
<p>If this target is met and documented, clubs enjoy an <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/gra2003190/s3.6.6b.html">8.33% tax break</a> compared to <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/gra2003190/s3.6.6a.html">hotel operators</a>. The law requires clubs to provide an <a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/gambling/gaming-venue-operator/understand-your-gaming-licence/your-obligations/community-benefit">annual statement</a> of contributions and these reports are published online.</p>
<p>We used <a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/gambling/gaming-venue-operator/understand-your-gaming-licence/your-obligations/community-benefit">these records</a>, published by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, as the basis for our research. </p>
<h2>Clubs fall far short in charitable giving</h2>
<p>In the three-year period from July 2012 to June 2015, Victorian clubs took in net gambling revenue of $2.6 billion (adjusted for inflation at 2014-15 values). </p>
<p>From this amount, they claimed $853 million (32.5%) as benefits provided to the community. </p>
<p>Our research sought to determine the actual extent to which claimed benefits were, in fact, provided to charitable or philanthropic purposes. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/hawks-claim-2m-pokies-revenue-as-community-benefit-20081004-4txr.html">Considerable</a> <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/pokie-venues-in-charity-scheme-rort-20070427-ge4r80.html">media</a> <a href="https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/4650664/pokies-community-benefits-a-farce/">attention</a> (and some previous <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-real-are-claims-of-poker-machine-community-benefits-49136">research</a>) has suggested that such <a href="https://www.starweekly.com.au/news/pokies-venues-exploiting-community-benefits/">benefits</a> may be largely <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/which-community-benefits-from-afl-poker-machine-venues-20160120-gm9lf1.html">illusory</a>. </p>
<p>We found that contributions to charitable or philanthropic purposes amounted to just $38.7 million, or 1.5% of total net gambling revenue. This is obviously far less than the mandated 8.33%. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-odds-youll-gamble-on-the-grand-final-are-high-when-punting-is-woven-into-our-very-social-fabric-124157">The odds you’ll gamble on the Grand Final are high when punting is woven into our very social fabric</a>
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<p>In contrast, venue operating costs amounted to $602.5 million, 70.7% of all community benefit claims. This included wages and on-costs, capital costs, outfitting and update of club equipment, insurance and utilities.</p>
<p>This is indeed permitted under the ministerial direction. But when these operating costs are taken into account, the clubs are falling well short of their claims of contributing substantially to the philanthropic or charitable needs of their communities. </p>
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<p>In a statement in response to our research, Community Clubs Victoria refuted suggestions </p>
<blockquote>
<p>there is such little community benefit to club members and the local communities from the revenues derived from clubs with gaming.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The group said the gaming machines allow it to pay for, among other things, maintenance of sporting fields, team jumpers for junior sporting
members, opportunities for volunteers and sporting competitions.</p>
<h2>What AFL, golf and racing clubs gave</h2>
<p>We also examined three categories of clubs that operate pokies in greater detail – AFL clubs, golf clubs and racing clubs. </p>
<p>Golf clubs spent 96% ($109 million) of their supposed community contributions on business operating costs. Direct contributions to the community in the form of donations to charities and other community-based organisation, for example, amounted to just $1.6 million, or 0.75% of net gambling revenue. </p>
<p>Racing clubs spent 94% ($211.5 million) of their community contribution claims on business operating costs. Their direct donations to communities were $1.7 million (0.45% of net gambling revenue). </p>
<p>AFL clubs claimed a more modest 74% ($38 million) of community contributions as business operating costs. These clubs donated $6.7 million directly to communities, or 2.7% of net gambling revenue.</p>
<p>Although Victorian clubs did not give the required 8.33% of total pokie losses on what might reasonably be regarded as actual community contributions, they did claim the 8.33% tax break offered by the state.</p>
<p>This meant the clubs received a tax discount of $217.4 million over the three-year period. Note that clubs, as mutual organisations, do not generally pay corporations tax. This is despite many operating as highly profitable businesses.</p>
<h2>Similar disparities in other states</h2>
<p>Our research is backed up by the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2010/report">Productivity Commission</a>, which was scathing of the community benefit schemes operating in most Australian states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The (gross) value of social contributions by clubs is likely to be significantly less than the support governments provide to clubs through tax and other concessions.</p>
<p>Given this, there are strong grounds for the phased implementation of significantly lower levels of gaming revenue tax concessions for clubs, commensurate with the realised community benefits.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indeed, this is not just a problem of the Victorian system. The ACT <a href="https://www.audit.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/1193610/Report-No-5-of-2018-ACT-clubs-community-contributions.pdf">auditor-general</a> raised similar concerns in a 2018 review of the charitable giving regulations there. </p>
<p>Betty Con Walker, a former NSW state treasury officer, <a href="https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/products/78656?_pos=2&_sid=99c8aeef3&_ss=r">criticised</a> the system in NSW, as well. She noted that claims for business expenses by gambling operators in that state also far exceeded contributions to actual community purposes. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-long-way-to-go-on-responsible-gambling-101320">Australia has a long way to go on responsible gambling</a>
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<p>The Victorian community contributions scheme allows for scrutiny of charitable giving to a much greater extent than other states. </p>
<p>However, from examining the available data, we know that claims of community benefits in NSW amounted to just <a href="http://www.clubsaustralia.com.au/community-suppport/grants">$120 million in 2015</a>, or <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/statistics/theme/society/gambling/australian-gambling-statistics#current-release-australian-gambling-statistics">2.1% of net pokie revenue</a>. And in Queensland, community contributions amounted to <a href="https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/club-community-benefit-statements-2003-2012">$36.5 million in 2012</a>, or <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/statistics/theme/society/gambling/australian-gambling-statistics#current-release-australian-gambling-statistics">1.9% of total pokie revenue</a>.</p>
<p>It may be that pokie operators do support worthy causes. However, in the absence of readily available and transparent data, we don’t know. </p>
<p>Data about how much benefit clubs provide to the community are not presented transparently. They do not accord with a straightforward understanding of what constitutes community benefit. </p>
<p>Because of this, an accurate assessment of the costs and benefits to the community of the gambling industry is close to impossible. What is certain, however, is that the amounts actually contributed to good causes by gambling operators are a tiny fraction of the money lost by people using pokies. They are also a miniscule proportion of the best available estimate of social harms. </p>
<p>If we persist with the idea that gambling can support community causes, we need community benefit systems that demonstrably deliver such benefits. Instead, we have what appears to be a smokescreen. </p>
<p>Behind this, industry claims to support communities, while redirecting most of the money back to themselves. Governments receive significant tax revenue from gambling. They need to make sure that they are not justifying their dependence on harmful products with such schemes. </p>
<p>A transparent scheme that defines community benefits clearly, and in line with reasonable community expectations, is long overdue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He was a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Francis is the recipient of an Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship (formerly Australian Postgraduate Award from the Commonwealth government. Louise has contributed to projects that have received funding from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform and existing harm minimisation practices. Louise is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia.
</span></em></p>Gambling operators are required by law to donate some of their revenue for charitable purposes. But a review of data in Victoria shows that charitable giving is actually far less than they claim.Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLouise Francis, PhD Candidate, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1058522018-10-29T19:10:20Z2018-10-29T19:10:20ZHow flashing lights and catchy tunes make gamblers take more risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242669/original/file-20181029-7059-kkjwdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Slot machines flash bright lights and play musical sounds as you play. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ready-slot-machine-spin-gambling-casino-1008486295?src=CBwzn3hKWV4kRm5NGspCkQ-1-44">from www.shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lights and sounds coming from electronic gambling machines – also known as EGMs, pokies or slots – contribute to their addictive potential according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1171-18.2018">new research</a> published today. </p>
<p>Scientists from the University of British Columbia, Canada, set up experiments with human subjects using gambling tasks and “sensory cues” such as flashing lights and catchy tunes. </p>
<p>They found that people made riskier decisions and were less able to interpret information about their probability of winning when exposed to cues associated with previous wins. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-pokies-from-tasmanias-clubs-and-pubs-would-help-gamblers-without-hurting-the-economy-90019">Removing pokies from Tasmania's clubs and pubs would help gamblers without hurting the economy</a>
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<p>It was known from earlier <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26791209">animal studies</a> that sensory cues, such as flashing lights or sounds, when paired with a reward, lead to “riskier” decision making. Prior to the new study, this had not previously been demonstrated in humans. However, it is not unexpected, given what we know of Pavlovian, or classical, conditioning. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-vs-operant-conditioning-2794861">Classical conditioning</a> has been understood for over a century as the mechanism for training animals (including humans). Thus, training a dog to sit becomes easier if the reward (food, or some other pleasurable event) and the command (the cue) are associated. </p>
<h2>How pokies work</h2>
<p>Electronic gambling machines (pokies) combine rewards and cues in abundance. </p>
<p>Many of us working to <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(17)30467-4/fulltext">understand pokie addiction</a> have developed a model that combines the principles of two types of conditioning – operant (focusing on the reward structure) and classical (looking at the cues) – and tie these with how the brain’s reward system operates. </p>
<p>As well as rewards and cues, environmental, social and economic factors also play a significant role in the establishment of gambling addiction. However, the pokie itself is <a href="https://theconversation.com/bright-lights-big-losses-how-poker-machines-create-addicts-and-rob-them-blind-49143">increasingly seen</a> as a crucial element of this addiction system.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bright-lights-big-losses-how-poker-machines-create-addicts-and-rob-them-blind-49143">Bright lights, big losses: how poker machines create addicts and rob them blind</a>
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<p>In their new study, lead authors Catharine Winstanley and Mariya Cherkasova subjected humans to rewards accompanied by sensory cues such as flashing lights and casino sounds. This increased arousal, or excitement – measured by dilation of the pupils of the eye. It also lead to a decline in sensitivity to information about odds and probabilities. </p>
<p>Decision making became more risky. Risky decision making, in turn, is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29055269">associated with increased likelihood of addiction</a>, as the new study argues. </p>
<h2>Losses disguised as wins</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20712818">Losses disguised as wins</a>” provide an important example of risky decision making and increased likelihood of addiction. </p>
<p>Losses disguised as wins occur when a pokie user bets on multiple “lines” on a machine. This makes it possible to get a “reward” that is less than the amount staked. For example, with a bet of $5, the user may “win” fifty cents. The game will celebrate this $4.50 loss with the usual sounds and visual imagery associated with an actual win. </p>
<p>The result is that the stimulus provided echoes that for an actual win. This appears to make users overestimate their winnings. It also effectively doubles the amount of reinforcement achieved by the game, at no cost to the operator. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-long-way-to-go-on-responsible-gambling-101320">Australia has a long way to go on responsible gambling</a>
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<p>In the Australian states of Tasmania and Queensland, <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/how-electronic-gambling-machines-work">losses disguised as wins are prohibited on consumer safety grounds</a> – no stimulus is permitted when the “win” is less than the stake. The paper published today provides strong evidence for extending this prohibition to other jurisdictions.</p>
<p>The new research also helps fill in one of the gaps in our detailed understanding of the addictive potential of pokies, and provides additional evidence to support more effective regulation of pokies. </p>
<p>Along with <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14459795.2017.1377748">social and other research</a>, this can help to reduce the <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/assessing-gambling-related-harm-in-victoria-a-public-health-perspective-69/">significant harm</a> associated with pokies, and other forms of gambling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He was a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p>Electronic gambling machines can be highly addictive, and are associated with very high rates of gambling harm. Many of the mechanisms of this potential for addiction are now becoming clearer.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1013202018-08-16T06:04:55Z2018-08-16T06:04:55ZAustralia has a long way to go on responsible gambling<p>At the beginning of August, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) released its <a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/casino-review">sixth review</a> into Crown Casino’s operations. The review made 20 recommendations, 11 of which referred to the provision of “responsible gambling”. In this area, the review indicated that Crown had lagged behind community expectations.</p>
<p>The release of the review comes at a bad time for Crown. Earlier this year, a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-24/crown-casino-picks-new-poker-machine-claims/9691494">whistle-blower accused</a> the casino of misconduct, including providing gamblers with a “pick” to jam poker machine buttons in place. And following another allegation of machine tampering, the VCGLR <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/27/crown-casino-fined-300000-in-victoria-for-poker-machine-tampering">fined Crown AU$300,000</a>. This was an historically high fine.</p>
<p>Another recent <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-28/woolworths-tracks-pokies-customers-to-boost-profits-wilkie-says/9490730">whistle-blower</a> case concerned Woolworth’s subsidiary ALH, Australia’s largest gambling machine operator. Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/woolworths-admits-pub-staff-collected-personal-data-on-pokies-players-20180806-p4zvpo.html">ALH admitted</a> that patrons were “spied upon” and provided with inducements to continue gambling. </p>
<p>The idea of “responsible gambling” is at the core of both these cases.</p>
<h2>What is responsible gambling?</h2>
<p>Responsible gambling has been a cornerstone of government gambling policy since at least the 1990s. The concept was a gambling industry invention, developed as gambling was legalised and expanded globally. It allowed the industry to circumvent stricter regulations in response to the harmful side effects associated with the spread of gambling. This has been a wildly effective strategy for the gambling industry, but largely ineffective in terms of minimising harm. </p>
<p>Responsible gambling is largely implemented via <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/sites/default/files/webinar_rintoul_coc_8jun17arlb.pdf">codes of practice</a>, required in <a href="https://www.austgamingcouncil.org.au/Codes-of-Conduct">all Australian casinos, pubs and clubs</a> and many other jurisdictions. These require gambling operators to provide warning signs and intervene when someone shows signs of harm, among other measures. </p>
<p>Other responsible gambling regulations impose limits on game offerings. This is especially so with <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/Documents/GMNS2016.pdf">electronic gambling machines</a> (EGMs, or “pokies”). In most Australian states, the maximum bet in a pub or club pokie is A$5. There are other pokie restrictions, as well, such as the load-up (the amount of money that can be inserted at one time) and the speed at which individual bets can be placed (generally every two to three seconds). </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/responsible-gambling-and-the-spectacle-of-the-problem-gambler-13579">Responsible gambling and the spectacle of the 'problem gambler'</a>
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<p>But in research I’ve conducted with other academics, we’ve found little <a href="https://www.exeley.com/exeley/journals/evidence_base/2014/2/pdf/10.21307_eb-2014-002.pdf">evidence</a> that responsible gambling measures are effective. </p>
<p>This is partly because of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14459795.2017.1377748?journalCode=rigs20">recent public health research</a> showing that, even with responsible gambling measures in place, gambling harm remains a serious problem. This is partly because gambling mechanisms are ubiquitous in Australia, and partly because responsible gambling measures are unconcerned with preventing harm. At best, these measures act as an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff – not the fence at the top. </p>
<p>As with alcohol, the “responsibility” for over-consumption is generally offloaded by the gambling industry onto consumers. The industry argues that problems affect only a tiny minority, and are a result of flawed individuals who can’t control themselves. Exposure to gambling itself is not considered a cause. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-history-of-courting-the-chinese-gambler-67441">Australia has a history of courting the Chinese gambler</a>
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<p>However, <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/assessing-gambling-related-harm-in-victoria-a-public-health-perspective-69/">recent research in Victoria</a> demonstrates that the harm associated with gambling is of a “similar order of magnitude” as major depressive disorders and alcohol misuse. The social costs of gambling, including family breakdown, relationship problems, <a href="https://theconversation.com/areas-with-more-poker-machines-have-higher-rates-of-domestic-violence-66982">domestic violence</a>, and emotional and psychological distress, depression and suicide, are estimated at nearly <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/the-social-cost-of-gambling-to-victoria-121/">A$7 billion per year</a> in Victoria alone. </p>
<p>Another recent study found that on average, every “problem gambler” <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14459795.2017.1331252?src=recsys">affects six other people</a> in his or her life. Every “moderate-risk” gambler impacts three others. Even “low- risk” gamblers affect one other person. </p>
<p>Thus, the costs and effects of gambling harm are much more widespread than the gambling industry or government concedes. This has also been corroborated by <a href="http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Measuring-gambling-related-harms.pdf">recent research in the UK</a>.</p>
<h2>Contradictions between practice and law</h2>
<p>Responsible gambling measures were intended to address these social costs, but research shows that some “codes of practice” are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16066359.2017.1314465">rarely enforced and often ignored</a>. ALH has also <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-06/woolworths-confirms-clubs-monitored-poker-machine-customers/10077940">admitted this is true</a>. </p>
<p>Even more troubling is that Crown is permitted by <a href="http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/LTObject_Store/ltobjst10.nsf/DDE300B846EED9C7CA257616000A3571/825B00190A3E560FCA2581F70001CFDE/$FILE/91-47aa094%20authorised.pdf">Victorian law</a> to allow patrons to play pokies in “unrestricted” mode at its casinos. This means gamblers can bet unlimited amounts, at unlimited speed, and on “autoplay”. (The “unrestricted” mode is banned outside casinos.) </p>
<p>Considering the law also requires Crown to pursue “responsible gambling” regulations, the contradiction is quite striking.</p>
<p>There are other contradictions. In its casino review, VCGLR recommended more staff, with time to actually intervene, when patrons display signs of harmful pokie use. However, using the “unrestricted” mode allowed only at Crown would be a clear sign of harmful gambling.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gambling-industry-finds-plenty-of-political-guns-for-hire-to-defend-the-status-quo-70124">Gambling industry finds plenty of political guns for hire to defend the status quo</a>
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<p>VCGLR also wants the casino to implement real–time data analytics to identify gamblers using pokies in harmful ways. Implementation of this recommendation would allow the casino to clearly identify people gambling harmfully, which would probably also reduce gambling revenues. Perhaps this is why VCGLR felt that Crown was lagging somewhat in its adoption of this measure.</p>
<p>Responsible gambling has provided a smokescreen for business as usual by the gambling industry for many years. Australia needs to recognise the significant harms caused by gambling and abandon the idea of “responsible gambling” as we have understood it. </p>
<p>In its place, the government should pursue better-conceived and well-resourced regulations and enforcement. That is, if we genuinely want gambling harm to be reduced.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He was a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p>Even with responsible gambling measures in place, excessive gambling remains a problem and a significant cost to society.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/922982018-03-04T02:54:21Z2018-03-04T02:54:21ZHodgman rides Tasmanians’ disdain for minority government to a second term in office<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208781/original/file-20180303-65541-vtrnwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Tasmanian election result was an emphatic win for Will Hodgman, but he lost a fair bit of skin along the way.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Julian Smith</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In an era of single-term governments and growing electoral volatility in Australia, the return of Will Hodgman’s Liberal government at Saturday’s Tasmanian election with <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/tas-election-2018/results/">more than 50% of the primary vote</a> is significant – and will have national implications.</p>
<p>The Turnbull government will take comfort from a result that demonstrates voters – even in left-leaning Tasmania – are prepared to re-elect a competent Liberal government that has delivered strong economic and employment growth.</p>
<p>It was a strong result for the Liberals. However, the outcome was shaped as much by Tasmania’s distinctive political practices and local issues as it was by national trends.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-pokies-from-tasmanias-clubs-and-pubs-would-help-gamblers-without-hurting-the-economy-90019">Pokies</a>, housing, hospitals, and – at the 11th hour – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/02/tasmanian-liberal-government-promises-to-soften-gun-laws">watering down gun laws</a> might have been the specific issues that dominated the campaign, but the decisive factor was Tasmanians’ enduring apprehension about minority government.</p>
<p>The legacies of Labor-Green minority government of the early 1990s and between 2010 and 2014 cast a long shadow during the 2018 campaign. Both periods are associated with economic decline, rising unemployment, and budget cuts. </p>
<p>While there is little evidence to suggest minority government has been a cause of poor economic outcomes in Tasmania – it is more that these governments were unlucky and found themselves in charge after national downturns – the fact remains that Tasmanians have a strong preference for majority government.</p>
<p>Given this history, undecided Tasmanian voters tend to back the major party that’s most likely to form majority government. This was evident in both 2006 and 2014, and was always going to be a feature of the 2018 campaign given memories of the 2012-13 recession in Tasmania are still fresh in voters’ minds. And the Liberal government, which was elected in 2014, has delivered strong economic growth. </p>
<p>It is this bandwagon effect that helps explain why support for the government increased by ten points over the course of the campaign, rather than going to minor parties – as has been the case elsewhere.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/liberals-romp-to-emphatic-victory-in-tasmanian-election-92180">Liberals romp to emphatic victory in Tasmanian election</a>
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<h2>What now for the Liberals?</h2>
<p>The final result was an emphatic win for Hodgman. But it is also fair to say he lost a bit of skin along the way, due to the Liberals’ big-budget, brutally effective advertising campaign seeming to have been <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-24/labor-will-win-against-cashed-up-liberals-tas-party-pres-says/9481524">funded by gaming interests</a>.</p>
<p>The reality is that Tasmania remains deeply divided on pokies and the means the gaming industry uses to protect its interests.</p>
<p>Tasmanians voted for political and economic stability on Saturday, but an overwhelming majority <a href="http://kevinbonham.blogspot.com.au/2018/03/tasmania-2018-commissioned-pokies.html">support Labor’s policy</a> of phasing pokies out of pubs and clubs over a five-year period.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-pokies-from-tasmanias-clubs-and-pubs-would-help-gamblers-without-hurting-the-economy-90019">Removing pokies from Tasmania's clubs and pubs would help gamblers without hurting the economy</a>
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<p>The pokies debate is far from over. Hodgman must commit to open and transparent government, and subject his gaming policies to full parliamentary scrutiny in an attempt to regain the electorate’s trust. Opposition parties also have a role to play, and must be willing to compromise to find some middle ground.</p>
<h2>The election’s losers</h2>
<p>The result wasn’t a disaster for Labor. </p>
<p>Rebecca White, after securing the Labor leadership only a year ago, performed strongly during the campaign and has consolidated her credentials as a future premier. That she will be leading a stronger opposition bolstered by handful of up-and-coming new MPs also bodes well for Labor’s future.</p>
<p>The real losers in the election were the Greens and Jacqui Lambie. </p>
<p>In contrast to their success in inner-Melbourne and Sydney, the Greens have been struggling in Tasmania in recent years. The explanation for their decline in their former heartland can be attributed to the legacies of the last government, the absence of a high-profile local environmental issue, and that Labor, under White, has championed many of their core progressive causes.</p>
<p>Lambie and her party could have been the wildcard of this election, but she has had a tough summer and will have to fight hard to salvage her political career. Had Lambie herself run as a candidate on Saturday, it’s likely she would have been elected – and could have held the balance of power in the lower house. </p>
<p>Strangely, given that personalities and name recognition are so important in Tasmanian elections, she ran a ticket of grassroots candidates under her Jacqui Lambie Network banner that, as expected, failed to secure any serious support.</p>
<h2>Lessons for the future</h2>
<p>As the dust settles, we can draw a few conclusions from the Tasmanian election result.</p>
<p>Above all else, Tasmanians are a pragmatic bunch and are prepared to reward a government that delivers political stability and good economic outcomes.</p>
<p>The campaign also highlighted the power of sectional interests – be they mining, gaming or other actors – in Australian politics. The collective health of our democracy depends on curbing the influence of these groups at both the state and federal level.</p>
<p>Given the distinctive dynamics of Tasmanian politics, not too much can be read into the swing away from minor and protest parties and back to the majors. Perhaps the real test of the national political mood will come in South Australia on Saturday week.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Eccleston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pokies, housing, hospitals and gun laws might have been the specific issues that dominated the campaign, but the decisive factor was Tasmanians’ enduring apprehension about minority government.Richard Eccleston, Professor of Political Science; Director, Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/925842018-03-01T06:20:43Z2018-03-01T06:20:43ZWoolies is just one of many gambling companies using spying and other techniques to lure gamblers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208429/original/file-20180301-152555-9zt4j8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gamblers feel connected to the machine as hospitality keeps them playing for longer. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gary Knight/flicr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Woolworths is reported to be <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/clear-breach-watchdogs-to-probe-woolworths-pokies-pubs-20180228-p4z266.html">instructing staff</a> to ply gamblers with food and drink and to keep dossiers on the private lives. And while Woolworths has been singled out for systematically requiring these kind of practices from their staff, the company is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2017.1314465">hardly alone in putting profits ahead of gambler’s well-being</a>. </p>
<p>Poker-machine operators have good reason to treat their customers like this. Their primary goal is to take as much money from their customers as possible, and with poker machines, this means easing gamblers “into the zone”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-are-around-5-000-jobs-at-risk-if-pokies-are-removed-from-pubs-and-clubs-in-tasmania-91149">FactCheck: are 'around 5,000 jobs' at risk if pokies are removed from pubs and clubs in Tasmania?</a>
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<p>“The zone” is the term that frequent poker-machine gamblers often use to describe the altered state they enter into when gambling on pokies. The experience of entering the zone - and even the term itself - has been independently described by gamblers in studies in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16066350500338161">Australia</a> and the <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9156.html">United States</a>.</p>
<p>Gamblers describe it as an out-of-body experience. As <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9156.html">one gambler put it</a>: </p>
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<p>You aren’t really there, you’re with the machine and that’s all you’re with. </p>
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<p>Or in the words of another gambler:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel connected to the machine when I play, like it’s an extension of me, as if physically you couldn’t separate me from the machine.</p>
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<p>But the zone is also an expensive state to access. <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2009/report">Gambling on pokies costs</a> - on average - around A$120 per hour, or up to A$1,200 per hour if machines are played to their maximum capacity.</p>
<p>It’s when their customers are in the zone that poker-machine venues are at their most profitable.</p>
<h2>Easing gamblers into ‘the zone’</h2>
<p>Poker-machines are specifically engineered to ease people into the zone and to keep them there, according to <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9156.html">emerging evidence</a>. But in order for people to enter the zone, people must play the machines, and preferably play uninterrupted. This is where the tactics of venues like Woolworths loom large.</p>
<p>Venues use a wide range of tactics to get gamblers in through the door and in front of machines. </p>
<p>First of all, poker-machine venues are located in convenient locations, near to high traffic transport routes, shopping centres and the like. This facilitates frequent visits, and venues try to decrease the <a href="https://theconversation.com/too-close-to-home-people-who-live-near-pokie-venues-at-risk-20771">distance from your home to the closest poker-machine venue</a>.</p>
<p>For the same reasons, gambling venues are open very long hours. Operators want poker machines to be available should you need somewhere to go at 3am.</p>
<p>Indeed, poker-machine operators also go to extraordinary lengths to make their venues feel comfortable and welcoming. Operators have known for decades that the venue environment is crucial to facilitate profitable gambling. A cottage industry of research has sprung up in recent years to better help casino managers understand what sort of venues will keep gamblers feeling at ease.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-pokies-xenophon-goes-for-some-pokies-but-does-his-gambling-policy-go-far-enough-92038">'No pokies' Xenophon goes for 'some pokies', but does his gambling policy go far enough?</a>
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<p>For example, a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nerilee_Hing/publication/260418885_Servicescape_features_and_preferred_gambling_venue/links/02e7e53113e14a17cf000000/Servicescape-features-and-preferred-gambling-venue.pdf">2011 study of pokie venue gamblers in Australia</a> found there were certain gambler-friendly qualities of the venue which could be improved on to attract more gamblers. These included free refreshments; attentive customer service; safety and security; loyalty programs; and comfortable seating. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Designing-casinos-dominate-competition-international/dp/0942828445">Casino design manuals</a> go into great detail about how the manipulation of casino atmospheres can encourage people to stay and play. These manuals state that lighting should be steady and even, and should be angled away from gamblers faces. </p>
<p>Smells are said to affect gamblers’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2010.10.003">decisions to continue gambling or leave</a>, and so venues regulate them. Special attention is given to keeping out bad odours. In casinos, even architectural decisions such as ceiling height are calibrated to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2010.10.003">maximise gamblers’ “cognitive satisfaction”</a>.</p>
<p>Ambient music shouldn’t be too loud or too soft, and should be deflected, reverberating off walls rather than directed into gamblers faces. And music coming from the poker machines themselves shouldn’t be too jarring lest it distract the gambler, or <a href="http://iga.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/public/basic_page_attachments/20/109/1782961943/Relevance-and-role-of-gaming-machine-games-and-features-on-problem-gamblers-2008-web.pdf">attract too much attention to a win</a>.</p>
<p>All these amount to providing what <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-009-9256-7">one study has termed “social accessibility”</a>, the degree to which venues provide safe, friendly and easy places to visit - and to stay. The relationship with venue staff is central to this, as one problem gambler from the same study put it, “[In] all my preferred venues they [the staff] know me quite well”. It is this social accessibility that appears to be being manipulated by unscrupulous operators.</p>
<p>On a grander scale, US casinos use big data to devise tailored marketing strategies which will pull people back in. Recent court findings have shown that US casino giant Caeser’s values its <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-caesars-fight-data-on-players-is-real-prize-1426800166">customer database</a> at more than US$1 billion dollars. </p>
<p>While Australian pubs and clubs are not allowed to promote poker machines directly, they are able to cross-promote other events that might serve as vehicles to bring patrons into the venue, and thus facilitate a gambling session. </p>
<p>Venues also offer a place where children are encouraged to come and play. Not only does this facilitate the gambling of their parents and carers, but hearing or seeing adults gamble may serve to normalise the practice for the next generation. In particular, new research has found that marketing, especially of family-friendly events, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/16066359.2015.1093121">is influential in shaping children’s and adults’ perceptions of gambling venues and products</a> and thereby increase the likelihood that children will gamble when they grow up.</p>
<h2>When good hospitality becomes harmful</h2>
<p>All of these measures are designed to make gamblers as comfortable and relaxed in venues as possible. So why is this a problem? </p>
<p>In short, poker machines are highly addictive and cause a <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2009/report">great deal of harm</a>. Subtle manipulation of gambling venues are tested and tweaked by operators to maximise the chance that someone will come in, play the poker machines, and keep on playing. </p>
<p>What may look like good hospitality, is in effect a subtle - or in the case of Woolworths not so subtle - attempt to keep people gambling after the point at which they would otherwise have stopped.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/clear-breach-watchdogs-to-probe-woolworths-pokies-pubs-20180228-p4z266.html">Woolworths revelations</a> demonstrate once again that poker-machine venues can’t be trusted to self-regulate in the best interests of their patrons.</p>
<p>Industry practices such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2017.1314465">codes of conduct</a> - and the “responsible gambling” mantra - are simply inadequate when venues have a business model reliant on harmful levels of gambling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Markham has received funding from, or been employed on projects that received funding from, the Australian Research Council, the Community Benefit Fund of the Northern Territory, the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission and the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He has had his travel expenses to speak at an international conference paid for by the Alberta Gambling Research Institute, an organisation that is funded by the provincial government of Alberta. He is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia, a not-for- profit organisation whose activities include advocacy on public health issues including gambling.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Young has previously received research funding from the Australian Research Council, Gambling Research Australia, and several state government departments. His research is currently funded by the Community Benefit Fund of the Northern Territory Government. In addition to his SCU position, he a Visiting Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU.</span></em></p>Pokies companies want to keep their customers “in the zone”, that’s why they spend so much to keep tabs on them.Francis Markham, Research Fellow, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National UniversityMartin Young, Associate Professor, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/920382018-02-20T23:22:22Z2018-02-20T23:22:22Z‘No pokies’ Xenophon goes for ‘some pokies’, but does his gambling policy go far enough?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207017/original/file-20180219-116327-1xls5ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The evidence behind Nick Xenophon's proposed gambling reforms in South Australia is reasonably strong. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Morgan Sette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>SA-Best, led by high-profile former senator Nick Xenophon, has announced its <a href="https://sabest.org.au/media/sa-best-gambling-reform-policies-will-dramatically-reduce-pokies-addiction-and-community-harm/">gambling policy</a> ahead of next month’s South Australian election. Xenophon has backed away from the “no pokies” policy that characterised his earlier approach to gambling reform. However, the evidence behind his party’s proposed suite of measures is reasonably strong. </p>
<h2>What’s in the policy?</h2>
<p>Key aspects of SA-Best’s proposal are:</p>
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<li><p>a five-year plan to cut poker machines numbers in South Australia from 12,100 to 8,100;</p></li>
<li><p>a reduction in maximum bets to A$1, from the current $5;</p></li>
<li><p>a reduction in maximum prizes from $10,000 to $500;</p></li>
<li><p>removing particularly addictive features such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/poker-machines-and-the-law-when-is-a-win-not-a-win-49580">“losses disguised as wins”</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>prohibition of political donations from gambling businesses; and</p></li>
<li><p>the removal of EFTPOS facilities from gambling venues.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The policy would also empower the state’s <a href="http://iga.sa.gov.au/">Independent Gambling Authority</a> to implement and evaluate these proposals. </p>
<p>The policy is targeted at commercial hotel operators; clubs, “community hotels” and the casino are exempt from the reduction provisions. </p>
<p>There are also proposals to cut trading hours from 18 to 16 per day, with the introduction of a seven-year pokie licence for venues, from January 1, 2019. Increased resources would go to counselling and support for those with gambling problems.</p>
<p>Notably absent from the policy is the introduction of a <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/sites/default/files/publication-documents/agrc-precommitment-limit-setting.pdf">pre-commitment</a> system, which would enable pokie users to decide in advance how much they want to spend. Along with $1 maximum bets, this was a key recommendation of a <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2009/report">Productivity Commission inquiry</a> in 2010.</p>
<p>The policy has attracted the <a href="https://www.theshout.com.au/australian-hotelier/xenophons-gaming-policy-blasted-aha-sa/">expected response</a> from the gambling industry. The Australian Hotels Association argued the changes would “rip the guts” out of the gambling industry and attack the “26,000 jobs” it claims the industry directly creates.</p>
<h2>Does evidence support SA Best’s policies?</h2>
<p>We’ve known for some time that <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-1-maximum-bet-on-pokies-would-reduce-gambling-harm-22931">reducing maximum bets</a> is likely to reduce the amount wagered by people experiencing severe gambling problems. This in turn reduces the harm they suffer.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-1-maximum-bet-on-pokies-would-reduce-gambling-harm-22931">A $1 maximum bet on pokies would reduce gambling harm</a>
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<p>Reducing maximum prizes reduces “<a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/how-electronic-gambling-machines-work/structural-characteristics-egms">volatility</a>”, meaning pokies may have more consistent loss rates.</p>
<p>Reducing access to pokies is also an important intervention, since easy access is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/too-close-to-home-people-who-live-near-pokie-venues-at-risk-20771">key risk factor</a> for developing a gambling problem. Reducing the number of machines, and the hours they are accessible, support this. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/too-close-to-home-people-who-live-near-pokie-venues-at-risk-20771">Too close to home: people who live near pokie venues at risk</a>
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<p>However, <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/saces/docs/study-of-the-impact-of-caps-on-electronic-gaming-machines.pdf">very substantial cuts in pokie numbers</a> are needed to meaningfully reduce harm. A cut of the magnitude SA-Best proposes may not be sufficient to prevent those with serious gambling habits from readily accessing pokies. This is because pokies are rarely fully utilised at all times of the week.</p>
<p>Removing <a href="https://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/26881/Thomas-A-Evaluation-of-the-removal-of-ATMs-Victoria-Sept-2013.pdf">easy access to cash</a> has also been identified as an important harm-reduction intervention. This had a positive initial effect in Victoria (especially among high-risk gamblers), when ATMs were removed from pokie venues in 2012.</p>
<p>The harms associated with gambling generally affect <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14459795.2017.1331252?journalCode=rigs20">far more people</a> than just the gambler. The <a href="http://www.problemgambling.sa.gov.au/professionals/news_and_events/news-items/release-of-the-2012-gambling-prevalence-study-in-south-australia?a=13625">most recent study</a>, from 2012 indicates that 0.6% of the SA adult population is classified as at high risk of gambling harm, 2.5% are classified as at moderate risk, and another 7.1% at low risk.</p>
<p>Based on <a href="http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/communityprofile/4?opendocument">census data</a>, this equates to about 8,000 South Australians experiencing severe harm from gambling. Another 33,100 are experiencing significant harm, and about 94,000 are experiencing some harm.</p>
<p>However, each high-risk gambler affects six others; each moderate-risk gambler affects three others; and each low-risk gambler one other. So, the problems of each high-risk gambler affect another 47,660 South Australians. These are children, spouses, other relatives, friends, employers, the general community via the costs of crime, and so on. </p>
<p>Another 99,300 are affected by moderate-risk gambling, and another 94,000 by low-risk gambling. All up, this amounts to 241,000 people.</p>
<p>Of these, 190,000 are affected at high or significant levels. <a href="http://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/28465/Browne_assessing_gambling-related_harm_in_Vic_Apr_2016-REPLACEMENT2.pdf">These harms include</a> financial disaster and bankruptcy, divorce or separation, neglect of children, intimate partner violence and other violent crime, crimes against property, mental and physical ill-health, and in some cases, suicide.</p>
<p>Most gambling problems (around 75%) <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2009/report/gambling-report-volume1.pdf">are related to pokies</a>, and by far the greatest expenditure goes through them. Nothing has changed in this regard since the Productivity Commission identified this in 2010.</p>
<p>In this context, SA-Best’s policy has substantial justification.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-pokies-from-tasmanias-clubs-and-pubs-would-help-gamblers-without-hurting-the-economy-90019">Removing pokies from Tasmania's clubs and pubs would help gamblers without hurting the economy</a>
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<h2>Does it go far enough?</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-20/greens-target-xenophon-with-policy-to-ban-pokies-angering-hotels/9344960">South Australian Greens</a>, like their <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-16/greens-to-force-tas-labor-hand-on-pokies-policy/9055102">counterparts in Tasmania</a> and the Tasmanian Labor Party, want to get all pokies out of pubs and clubs. They argue gambling’s social and economic costs are far in excess of the benefits. </p>
<p>For Tasmania, the costs of gambling can be estimated at about <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/content/estimating-revenue-share-farrell-group-and-other-gambling-industry-participants-gambling">$342 million per year</a>. This is more than three times as much as the total tax take from all gambling in the state.</p>
<p>A similar calculation for South Australia suggests its overall costs of problem gambling are more than $1.6 billion per year. This is more than four times the total taxes from gambling the South Australian government <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/">derived in 2015-16</a> ($380.3 million).</p>
<p>With a cost-benefit ratio like that, some strong measures could well be called for. Xenophon says the proposals encapsulated in his party’s policy are the start. However, Tasmanian Labor has set the new benchmark for pokie regulation – removing them entirely from pubs and clubs.</p>
<p>It is remarkable that a party traditionally in lockstep with – and <a href="https://theconversation.com/gambling-lobby-gives-big-to-political-parties-and-names-names-73131">substantially supported by</a> – the gambling industry has adopted such a position. Perhaps the harms have become too much to ignore?</p>
<p>How these policies might be implemented, amid the resistance they will face from a well-heeled and <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/the-lobby-group-that-got-much-more-bang-for-its-buck/">often-influential</a> gambling industry, presents an intriguing prospect over coming months.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p>Nick Xenophon says the proposals encapsulated in his party’s gambling policy for the South Australian election are just the start of a wider push for reform.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911492018-02-20T19:11:02Z2018-02-20T19:11:02ZFactCheck: are ‘around 5,000 jobs’ at risk if pokies are removed from pubs and clubs in Tasmania?<blockquote>
<p>The gaming industry estimates that around 5,000 jobs are at risk if electronic gaming machines are removed from pubs and clubs.</p>
<p><strong>– Excerpt from the Tasmanian Liberals’ <a href="https://www.tas.liberal.org.au/sites/default/files/Future%20of%20%20Gaming%20Tas.pdf">Future of Gaming in Tasmania</a> policy document, February 2018</strong> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The future of electronic gaming machines – commonly known as poker machines or “pokies” – in Tasmanian pubs and clubs has become a key battleground in the state’s upcoming election.</p>
<p>The incumbent Tasmanian Liberals <a href="https://www.tas.liberal.org.au/sites/default/files/Future%20of%20%20Gaming%20Tas.pdf">have promised</a> to end the monopoly on poker machine licenses <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/no-risk-the-family-who-owns-tasmanias-gambling-industry-20180202-h0slct.html">currently held by the Federal Group</a>, and put the licenses for non-casino machines to public tender in 2023.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Tasmania’s opposition Labor Party <a href="http://taslabor.com/poker-machines-pubs-clubs-five-years-majority-labor-government/">has promised</a> to remove poker machines from pubs and clubs by 2023, offering A$50 million to assist venues make the transition. </p>
<p>In a document outlining its policy, the Tasmanian Liberal party cited “gaming industry” estimates that “around 5,000 jobs are at risk if electronic gaming machines are removed from pubs and clubs”.</p>
<p>Are those estimates correct?</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>The Conversation contacted Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman’s office to request sources and comment to support the claim, but did not receive a response.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, we can test the statement against publicly available data.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>The claim promoted by the Tasmanian Liberal Party that “around 5,000 jobs are at risk if electronic gaming machines are removed from pubs and clubs” is an exaggeration – and a significant one. </p>
<p>Finding precise employment figures for the gambling industry is difficult.</p>
<p>But data recently released by the Tasmanian Government Department of Treasury and Finance estimated that in 2017, there were 370 full time equivalent jobs related to poker machines and keno in hotels and clubs in Tasmania. </p>
<p>Even when we consider that the number of people employed would be higher than an estimated 370, because some people work part time, the claim that a change in legislation would place “around 5,000 jobs” at risk is a significant overstatement. </p>
<hr>
<h2>How do we count jobs in the gambling industry?</h2>
<p>Finding employment figures for the gambling industry is difficult, because generally the government doesn’t collect detailed employment data for this sector. </p>
<p>The most reliable source for jobs figures, at this stage, is the <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/Documents/Vol%201%20-%20SEIS%202017%20-%2022%20DECEMBER%202017%20-%20FINAL.pdf">Fourth Social and Economic Impact Study of Gambling in Tasmania</a> report, released by the Tasmanian Government Department of Treasury and Finance in December 2017.</p>
<p>This report provides comprehensive employment estimates using information received from stakeholders in the gambling industry, including industry associations, local governments and the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission. </p>
<p>The authors of this report did note that the full time employment estimates are “based on limited industry employment data and stakeholder insights”, and warned that “caution must be used when quoting these figures”.</p>
<h2>What did the report find?</h2>
<p>That study estimated that in 2017, the <em>total</em> gambling industry in Tasmania employed approximately 1,086 full time equivalent jobs across the state. According to the report, this was approximately 0.5% of total full time equivalent employment in Tasmania.</p>
<p>About one third of those jobs (370) were related to pokie machines and keno in hotels and clubs.</p>
<p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/10F4D9EEA573B5ADCA257D240011D39D?opendocument">defines</a> ‘hotels’ as pubs and similar venues, so we’ll use the terms interchangeably in this FactCheck.</p>
<p>One “full time equivalent” job is equivalent to 38 hours of employment a week, or 1,748 hours a year. So the number of people employed in the gambling industry is likely to be higher than 1,086 – because some people will work part time. </p>
<p>But given that there are 370 full time equivalent jobs in hotels and clubs related to pokies and keno, saying that “around 5,000 jobs” would be at risk if pokies were removed from pubs and clubs is an overstatement – even accounting for the difference between full time equivalent roles and the number of people employed. </p>
<p>Even if we consider the number of 1,086 full time equivalent roles for the <em>entire</em> Tasmanian gambling industry, to say around 5,000 jobs would be at risk is a significant overestimation. </p>
<h2>Redirecting the money spent on pokies</h2>
<p>The Treasury report found that in May 2017, there were 3,596 poker machines in casinos, clubs and hotels in Tasmania, including 36 on board the Spirit of Tasmania ships.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207020/original/file-20180219-116368-17z8ave.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">EGMs = Electronic gaming machines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/Documents/Vol%201%20-%20SEIS%202017%20-%2022%20DECEMBER%202017%20-%20FINAL.pdf">Economic Impact Study of Gambling in Tasmania</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Neither the Tasmanian Liberal or Labor parties are proposing to remove poker machines from casinos. So, excluding casinos, we can see that 89 hotels held licenses for 2,248 poker machines, while seven clubs held licences for 127 poker machines.</p>
<p>According to the report, in the 2015-16 financial year, A$191 million was spent on pokies in Tasmania. That A$191 million figures is for pokies alone, and doesn’t include race wagering, gaming in casinos, keno, lotteries, sports betting and online gambling.</p>
<p>It’s important to keep in mind that even if some jobs were lost in the gambling industry as a result of the change in legislation, other jobs would be created elsewhere in the economy.</p>
<p>This is because at least part of the spending on gambling in hotels and clubs could be expected to be redirected to other activities. As mentioned earlier, in the 2015-16 financial year, A$191 million was spent on pokies in Tasmania. </p>
<p>If pokies were removed from pubs and clubs, some of this spending would likely go to gambling in a casino, or to online gambling. But another part would likely go to other forms of spending, which in turn could generate additional income and jobs in the rest of the economy.</p>
<p>A study <a href="https://www.socialactionresearchcentre.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Removing-poker-machines-from-hotels-and-clubs-in-Tasmania-Economic-Considerations.pdf">published in July 2017</a> by Professor John Mangan at the University of Queensland specifically examined these ‘spillover’ effects for the Tasmanian economy.</p>
<p>Mangan’s analysis suggested that removing pokies from hotels and clubs would be beneficial to the Tasmanian economy, and could increase employment in Tasmania. <strong>– Fabrizio Carmignani</strong></p>
<h2>Blind review</h2>
<p>I agree with the conclusion of this FactCheck. Based on the most authoritative available estimate of gaming-related employment in Tasmanian hotels and clubs, which this FactCheck uses, it is impossible to take seriously the assertion that the removal of poker machines from them in five years’ time could cause the loss of around 5,000 jobs.</p>
<p>That would imply that for every job directly attributable to the presence of pokies in hotels and clubs, more than 13 jobs were created indirectly in Tasmania. And if that were really true, then the installation of poker machines would have to be the most effective form of job creation ever devised, anywhere – which is nonsensical. <strong>– Saul Eslake</strong></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162128/original/image-20170323-13486-72k52f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Conversation FactCheck is accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>The Conversation’s FactCheck unit is the first fact-checking team in Australia and one of the first worldwide to be accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network, an alliance of fact-checkers hosted at the Poynter Institute in the US. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversations-factcheck-granted-accreditation-by-international-fact-checking-network-at-poynter-74363">Read more here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Have you seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">checkit@theconversation.edu.au</a>. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91149/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fabrizio Carmignani has received funding from the Australian Research Council for a project on the estimation of the multivariate linear continuous model and its applications in macroeconomics.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saul Eslake does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Tasmanian Liberal party is promoting gaming industry estimates that ‘around 5,000 jobs’ would be at risk if poker machines were removed from pubs and clubs in Tasmania. Are the estimates correct?Fabrizio Carmignani, Professor, Griffith Business School, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/900192018-01-16T19:13:01Z2018-01-16T19:13:01ZRemoving pokies from Tasmania’s clubs and pubs would help gamblers without hurting the economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202014/original/file-20180116-53295-9sst7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Money gambled on pokies is frequently diverted from other, often more productive purposes, such as mortgage repayments, rent or other entertainment.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Julian Smith</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Debate over poker machines is at the centre of the lead-up to this year’s Tasmanian state election. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-13/poker-machines-to-be-out-of-pubs-clubs-under-tasmanian-labor/9254442">Labor’s promise</a> to remove pokies from Tasmania’s pubs and clubs by 2023 if it wins government has been met with both praise and fierce criticism from lobby groups.</p>
<p>Announcing the Liberals’ gaming policy recently, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-09/tas-liberals-gaming-policy-announced/9314398">Premier Will Hodgman said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unlike Labor, we believe that Tasmanians should be able to choose how to spend their money, not be dictated to by the government.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Amid claim and counter-claim, what are the facts on pokies in Tasmania? And what do we know about the impact of Labor’s policy of removing the machines from pubs and clubs?</p>
<h2>Ownership and location of pokies in Tasmanian pubs and clubs</h2>
<p>Tasmanian pubs and clubs <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/liquor-and-gaming/legislation-and-data/gambling-industry-data/gaming-and-wagering-industry-data">house 2,365 pokies</a>. In 2016-17, those who used them lost A$110 million.</p>
<p>Like most jurisdictions that have pokies in clubs and pubs, Tasmania’s are concentrated in areas of social stress. In fact, disadvantage predicts the extent of pokie losses <a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanias-pokie-problem-stress-and-disadvantage-exploited-more-than-anywhere-else-in-australia-73525">far more in Tasmania</a> than in other Australian states and territories.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading: <a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanias-pokie-problem-stress-and-disadvantage-exploited-more-than-anywhere-else-in-australia-73525">Tasmania’s pokie problem: stress and disadvantage exploited more than anywhere else in Australia</a></strong></em></p>
<hr>
<p>This may be largely attributable to the ownership arrangements in Tasmania, where one company – the Federal Group, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-one-family-used-pokies-and-politics-to-extract-a-fortune-from-tasmanians-73193">owned by the Farrell family</a> – holds the licence for all pokies in pubs and clubs, and the state’s two casinos. Ownership of the licences means Federal has excellent data, and can decide where to locate pokies to maximise profit.</p>
<p>Federal also entirely <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/liquor-and-gaming/legislation-and-data/gambling-industry-data">owns and operates 12 pubs</a> through its subsidiary, Vantage Hotel Group. Each venue operates 30 pokies. Australia Leisure and Hospitality Group, a subsidiary of Woolworths, operates another five venues, each also with 30 pokies.</p>
<p>Six of these 17 venues are in Glenorchy, a hotspot for pokie gambling. Pokies in Glenorchy make 1.6 times the state average – $74,589 per machine, compared to $46,486 across pubs and clubs in Tasmania. No other local government area even comes close to that figure. These losses translate to $560 per adult per year, compared to a Tasmanian average of $272.</p>
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<p>Glenorchy and some other local government areas have previously been <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/Documents/20150109SEISVolume2FINALREVISEDCHANGES.PDF">described as “low income”</a>, and are reported as having a problem gambling rate of 1.1%, compared to the state average of 0.6%. It’s little wonder, then, that the rate of losses is also more than twice the state average.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading: <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-one-family-used-pokies-and-politics-to-extract-a-fortune-from-tasmanians-73193">How one family used pokies and politics to extract a fortune from Tasmanians</a></strong></em></p>
<hr>
<p>It’s no accident that pokies in Tasmania are located in areas of significant social and economic stress. People who get hooked on them are likely to be seeking relief from life’s stresses – whether that’s caused by poverty, social exclusion, or difficult personal circumstances.</p>
<h2>How widespread is harm from gambling in Tasmania?</h2>
<p>The most recent published <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/Documents/Vol%202%20-%20SEIS%202017%20-%2022%20DECEMBER%202017%20-%20FINAL.pdf">survey of gambling activity</a> in Tasmania reports that 0.6% of the state’s adult population can be classified as “problem gamblers”. Another 1.4% were classed as “moderate-risk” gamblers, the next-lowest category. </p>
<p>All these people not only experience some degree of harm from gambling, but their gambling also affects others. Moderate-risk gamblers on average affect <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14459795.2017.1331252">three other people</a>, while the gambling of those in the more severe category affects six others.</p>
<p>We can use these data to develop some sense of how widespread the harm from gambling is in Tasmania.</p>
<p>Tasmania’s adult population is <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3235.0Main%20Features402014?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3235.0&issue=2014&num=&view=">estimated to be</a> around 405,000. Applying data from the gambling survey, Tasmania has around 2,430 problem gamblers, each of whom affects another six people (children, spouses, employers, friends and neighbours). That’s around 14,580 other people. </p>
<p>There’s 5,670 moderate-risk gamblers, each affecting three other people: roughly another 17,010 people. Low-risk gamblers comprise 4.8% of the adult population – around 19,440 people – and each of these will affect one other. And the <a href="https://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/28465/Browne_assessing_gambling-related_harm_in_Vic_Apr_2016-REPLACEMENT2.pdf">harms of gambling</a> are <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/impact-gambling-problems-families/what-are-impacts-gambling-problems-families">significant</a>.</p>
<p>All up, those harmed by gambling in Tasmania at any one time amounts to more than 78,000 people, or more than 15% of the state’s total population. This is almost certainly both an underestimate, and overwhelmingly attributable to pokies – given the vast majority of problem gamblers use pokies, almost entirely in pubs and clubs.</p>
<h2>The potential impacts of Labor’s policy</h2>
<p>The Tasmanian government received about <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/liquor-and-gaming/legislation-and-data/gambling-industry-data/gaming-and-wagering-industry-data">$31.2 million in 2016-17</a> from pokies in pubs and clubs. That amounts to 3% of Tasmanian <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/5506.02014-15?OpenDocument">state tax revenue</a>. </p>
<p>However, if pokies were removed from pubs and clubs, the money spent on gambling would not disappear. And it’s likely that revenue would flow to Treasury from other expenditures. </p>
<p>Gambling doesn’t create money from nothing. In fact, money gambled on pokies is frequently diverted from other, often more productive purposes, such as mortgage repayments, rent or other entertainment. Many of these other uses provide at least the same level of economic benefit, while not being associated with harm.</p>
<p>Gambling expenditure of $1 million <a href="http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/Documents/Soc-Economic-Impact-Study-Vol1.pdf">creates about 3.2 jobs</a>. The same expenditure on sales of liquor and other beverages equates to 8.3 jobs. And spending $1 million on sales of food and meals generates 20 jobs.</p>
<p>Most of the changes that would result from Labor’s policy would be felt by the minority of pubs whose business model has been built around the steady stream of pokie revenue. This includes some large corporations mentioned earlier. </p>
<p>Of the 343 “general” (or pub) licences, 89 (25.9%) have pokies. Of the 197 licensed clubs, a very modest seven (3.6%) operate pokies. The operators of these establishments would have until 2023 to reorganise their affairs, and would be assisted by a <a href="http://taslabor.com/phasing-out-poker-machines/">government package</a> to do so.</p>
<p>Pokies are highly addictive <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/how-electronic-gambling-machines-work">for many reasons</a>, but importantly because they’re high impact, almost continuous, and everywhere. If social space is saturated with pokies, they’ll be used. If used, they are likely to addict a significant proportion of those who use them.</p>
<p>Some of those currently hooked on pokies may move to other forms of gambling if pokies are not available, such as those available via the internet. However, when slot machines were similarly phased out in Norway, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/add.13172/abstract">the result was</a> a decline in gambling expenditure, and in harmful gambling. There was no evidence of other gambling forms substituting for expenditure on slot machines. </p>
<p>Without exposure to the highly intense form of gambling that pokies provide, the strong likelihood is a substantial reduction in harm across a variety of areas. It is also likely to lead to growth in other types of economic activity that don’t create these problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90019/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p>Disadvantage predicts the extent of poker machine losses far more in Tasmania than in other Australian states and territories.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/840652017-09-15T02:50:26Z2017-09-15T02:50:26ZSnap that prize up: croc research on gambling habits gets an Ig Nobel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186112/original/file-20170914-8975-1iltwl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The one-metre long relatives of this snappy croc at the Koorana Crocodile Farm, near Rockhampton, helped test the betting risks of potential gamblers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gorey/3446805828/">Flickr/Michael Gorey</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our research examining the effects of holding a live crocodile on slot-machine gambling has won one of this year’s infamous <a href="http://www.improbable.com/">Ig Nobel prizes</a>.</p>
<p>The award was one of several presented at a ceremony at Harvard University in the US on Thursday night, which honours research topics that “<a href="http://www.improbable.com/about/">first make people laugh, then make people think</a>”. They’re often regarded as a parody of the Nobel Prizes.</p>
<p>The judges said to all those who didn’t win an award, “better luck next year” and repeated the same to the recipients.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-australias-addiction-to-poker-machines-78353">Three charts on: Australia's addiction to poker machines</a>
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<p>Our original research paper, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10899-009-9174-4">Never Smile at a Crocodile: Betting on Electronic Gaming Machines is Intensified by Reptile-Induced Arousal</a> published in the Journal of Gambling Studies in 2010, did get <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/01/29/2802811.htm">some coverage</a> at the time.</p>
<p>Now that our work has been awarded the 2017 Ig Nobel prize for Economics, does it mean the influence of emotions on people’s gambling may get more attention in the literature? </p>
<p>Frankly, probably not. People will laugh a little, and carry on with their lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186114/original/file-20170914-9038-2baqnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Researcher Nancy Greer and Prof Matthew Rockloff were suitably dressed for the Ig Nobel occasion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CQUniversity</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>The croc research</h2>
<p>But the research addressed a surprisingly serious topic of how gambling is affected by the excitement generated by pokies or slot machines. </p>
<p>One of the important entertainment elements of gambling is its ability to generate excitement. This excitement is particularly important for people with pre-existing gambling problems, who often suffer from low moods.</p>
<p>The research was devised to subtly manipulate excitement just prior to gambling.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186120/original/file-20170915-8998-15pji09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The researchers used smaller crocs like this one as part of the study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Digital Video Bank</span></span>
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<p>Our supposition was that some of the excitement from holding the crocodile would be misattributed to the gambling experience, allowing us to study how that feeling of excitement might influence gambling decisions.</p>
<p>So we attended 100 crocodile tours at the <a href="https://www.koorana.com.au/">Koorana Crocodile Farm</a> in Coowonga, Central Queensland, Australia. For about half of the tours, we approached people at random to play a simulated pokie game before entering the farm and having any contact with crocodiles. </p>
<p>For the other half of participants, they were approached immediately after holding a live one-metre crocodile. Photos holding the crocodile are a feature of the end of the tour, and most tourists take a turn holding this ancient - and potentially deadly - animal.</p>
<p>We measured all aspects of people’s real-money gambling on our simulated pokie game. We also took standard measures of people’s physiological state and mood, and surveyed them for any pre-existing gambling problems.</p>
<h2>The findings</h2>
<p>Most of our subjects, the tourists at the croc farm, had fun holding the croc. The juvenile crocodile had its mouth taped shut, but still had sharp teeth protruding from its mouth. </p>
<p>It also had sharp claws, and tourists were advised to handle it carefully. In our debriefing of the participants, nobody indicated an awareness that the crocodile had any influence on their gambling decisions.</p>
<p>But our results showed that people with pre-existing problems bet larger amounts after they held a one-metre crocodile, as long as they did not rate themselves as having a negative mood. </p>
<p>In contrast, gamblers with pre-existing problems who were in a negative mood bet substantially less. This demonstrated that emotions are an important determinant of gambling choices.</p>
<p>The research used a paradigm consistent with experimental realism, in which the goal was to simulate the psychological processes involved in real-world gambling rather than to simulate the mundane realism of the casino environment.</p>
<p>Experimental research often sacrifices some features of realism to improve control. Later correlational research supports our result by showing that people generally bet more in large, and presumably more exciting, casino environments than in smaller local venues.</p>
<h2>Ig Nobel recognition of the research</h2>
<p>Great science and great humour are often based on a surprise or unexpected results. It is important for people to understand that not all research has to be stuffy to be valuable. </p>
<p>Public recognition for our research through the Ig Nobels may allow people to “laugh”, but also to “think”. People need to be more aware of how their emotional states can influence their gambling decisions so that they can make better gambling choices.</p>
<p>The crocodile study was actually completed ten years ago, and we have made great progress since in understanding gambling choices. Our <a href="https://theconversation.com/responsible-gambling-why-occasional-use-is-generally-safe-25493">more recent research</a> looks at gambling harms and benefits, with the purpose of trying to identify what amount of gambling is “too much”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-huh-to-who-the-universal-utterances-that-keep-us-talking-47775">From 'Huh?' to 'Who?': the universal utterances that keep us talking</a>
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<p>Many people participate in gambling with measurable recreational benefits. The key to engaging successfully with gambling products, including slots, is to maximise the benefit and minimise the harms.</p>
<p>One of our new research platforms to examine this and other questions is a customised Luck Lolly Slots slot machine game available from <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lucky-lolly-slots/id1055174667">iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.headjam.cqu.lucky_lolly_slots&hl=en">Android</a> app stores. It’s been developed by CQUniversity for a research project investigating pokie-style mobile apps and is available for free (with no in-app purchases and no ads). </p>
<p>As for the Ig Nobel prize, it includes a cash award of <a href="http://www.improbable.com/2016/04/27/april-30-as-final-day-for-retiring-the-zimbabwe-100-trillion-dollar-bills/">10 trillion Zimbabwe dollars</a>. This will soon be spent by the research team on necessary supplies: two cups of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts (medium, no milk).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Rockloff has received research grants from Gambling Research Australia, the Queensland Treasury Department, the Federal Department of Social Services, the Victorian Treasury Department, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance, the First Nations Foundation, the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and the Alberta Gambling Research Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nancy Greer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research that studied the pokie risks gamblers were prepared to take after they held a live crocodile has been awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.Matthew Rockloff, Head, Population Research Laboratory, CQUniversity AustraliaNancy Greer, Researcher and PhD Candidate, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/814862017-08-01T20:15:28Z2017-08-01T20:15:28ZPokies, sport and racing harm 41% of monthly gamblers: survey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180302/original/file-20170731-15340-1n7fp71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About 39.1% of Australians typically gamble on a monthly basis: most of them buy lottery products.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey has turned its attention to gambling, revealing that around 1.4 million Australians are directly harmed by the activity.</p>
<h2>What did HILDA find?</h2>
<p>Australian adults <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/">spend $A1,240</a> on gambling per year. This is well above <a href="https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-4">global averages</a>, and nearly twice as much as the next country on the list.</p>
<p>HILDA shows most Australians are not very regular gamblers. About 39.1% of Australians typically gamble on a monthly basis. Most of them buy lottery products.</p>
<p>However, for those who do engage with more harmful gambling products, such as poker machines and wagering, the results are troubling. HILDA confirms that rates of harm among people gambling monthly on specific harmful products are much higher than for more benign lottery products.</p>
<p>Among the overall population, HILDA data suggest that about 1.1% of the adult population – about 200,000 people – score eight or more on the <a href="https://www.problemgambling.ca/EN/ResourcesForProfessionals/pages/problemgamblingseverityindexpgsi.aspx">Problem Gambling Severity Index</a> (a screening tool for gambling problems). These people are generally categorised in Australia as “problem gamblers”. </p>
<p>HILDA’s estimates are higher than most recent <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.13216/full">prevalence studies</a>, which use telephone interviews. HILDA uses face-to-face interviews involving quite sophisticated interviewing techniques. It’s thus likely to be more reliable than other <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4413-6">prevalence studies</a>.</p>
<p>Regardless, <a href="https://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/information-and-resources/research/recent-research/assessing-gambling-related-harm-in-victoria-a-public-health-perspective">new evidence</a> suggests that problem gambling is not limited to those who score eight or more on the Problem Gambling Severity Index. In total, more harm accrues to people in the “moderate” and “low” risk groups. That’s because there are many more people in those groups, and all experience some degree of harm.</p>
<p>The HILDA survey shows that another 8% of the Australian population experience some harm from gambling.</p>
<p>For each “problem gambler”, six other people <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14459795.2017.1331252">are affected</a>. For each “moderate risk” gambler, about three others are affected. And for each “low risk” gambler, an additional person is affected.</p>
<p>If these estimates are applied to the HILDA data, this suggests gambling adversely affects more than 3.3 million Australians, in addition to the 1.4 million directly affected.</p>
<p>The most harmful forms of gambling for monthly gamblers are poker, casino games and private betting. However, these activities are rare. Just 1% or so of the population typically gamble in these ways monthly. Thus the estimates of the harm incurred by these types of gambling are unreliable, although certainly high. </p>
<p>Gambling on lotteries is clearly a much less risky pastime. Those who typically gamble on lotteries monthly have a “problem gambler” rate only marginally higher than the overall population (1.2%), and 86.8% experience no gambling harms. Harm to this group may accrue from other forms of gambling rather than from lotteries. </p>
<p>Of those who typically use poker machines monthly, however, estimates are more robust. Among the 8% of adults who typically use pokies once a month or more, 6.2% are categorised as “problem gamblers”, and another 35.3% experience some level of harm. </p>
<p>About 3% of the adult population typically bet on sports monthly. This group has a “problem gambler” rate of 6.7%, along with another 34.2% who experience some level of harm. A similar pattern emerges with horse or dog wagering. Of this group, 5.2% are serious problem gamblers and 35.9% are harmed to some extent.</p>
<p>Thus, of monthly pokie users, 41.5% experience at least some harm. For those who bet on sports, it’s 40.9%. And for those who bet on racing, 41.1% experience harm.</p>
<h2>HILDA and pokies</h2>
<p>HILDA also asked people about their enjoyment of life. The results demonstrate that those experiencing gambling harm generally have a lower average score for this than those who don’t. Enjoyment of life for those scoring eight or more on the Problem Gambling Severity Index is, unsurprisingly, below those in other categories.</p>
<p>This is an important finding. Pokies in particular are concentrated in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/16066359.2012.727507">areas of stress</a> – places where people are socioeconomically disadvantaged or experiencing stress of other kinds.</p>
<p>For example, outer-suburban areas often have a significant concentration of pokies and high losses. People in these suburbs are not necessarily socioeconomically disadvantaged. They may, however, experience stress from such phenomena as long travel times, the difficulties of managing two-income families, significant mortgages, and childcare issues. </p>
<p>It is probable that pokies are concentrated in stressed areas because they provide some relief for people living under difficult or stressful circumstances. HILDA provides some support for this view. </p>
<p>Causality for reduced enjoyment of life and gambling harm may be difficult to disentangle. But as HILDA progresses, we can expect to see a finer-grained view of gambling harm and its demographic distribution. This will provide a much-improved tool for regulators and policymakers to consider how to reduce harm.</p>
<p>The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation recently rejected an application for additional pokies in a <a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/Noble_Park_Football_Social_Club_-_EGM_increase_-_Decision_and_reasons_for_decision.pdf">southeast Melbourne local government area</a>. It did this in substantial part because <a href="https://theconversation.com/areas-with-more-poker-machines-have-higher-rates-of-domestic-violence-66982">evidence demonstrated</a> a relationship between intimate partner violence and pokie concentration: the more spent on pokies, the greater the incidence of such violence.</p>
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<h2>Using data to inform decisions</h2>
<p>Because HILDA collects data across multiple domains, it will allow researchers to examine the correlates of gambling, and explore how these relate to gambling behaviour and harms.</p>
<p>The reverse of this is also true. Gambling has impacts on many aspects of life – including employment, income and wealth.</p>
<p>The HILDA report provides a summary of key findings. However, continuing to ask about gambling over time will allow a better understanding of how people engage and disengage with gambling activities. It will also support a better understanding of how, and in what circumstances, gambling harm accrues. </p>
<p>As better and more detailed data are collected, regulatory decision-making and policy development can be significantly enhanced.</p>
<p>We now have a better understanding of how much harm gambling causes. HILDA can improve our understanding of where this is concentrated, what forms are most likely to cause it, and how it can be prevented or minimised.</p>
<p>Such a mainstreaming of gambling data collection will help maximise the benefits that gambling may provide, while minimising the harms. That represents a significant development.</p>
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<p><em>This piece is <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hilda-2017-41279">part of a series</a> on the recent release of HILDA survey data.</em></p>
<p><em>Read more:</em></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/home-ownership-falling-debts-rising-its-looking-grim-for-the-under-40s-81619"><em>Home ownership falling, debts rising – it’s looking grim for the under 40s</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/australians-want-more-children-than-they-have-so-are-we-in-the-midst-of-a-demographic-crisis-81547"><em>Australians want more children than they have, so are we in the midst of a demographic crisis?</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/12-charts-on-what-our-work-and-family-life-looks-like-81897"><em>Men still prefer mothers to stay at home: 12 charts on attitudes to work and family</em></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81486/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens. </span></em></p>Gambling has impacts on many aspects of life – including employment, income and wealth. The release of HILDA’s latest survey provides more evidence to help inform decisions on gambling policy.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/783532017-06-26T20:09:37Z2017-06-26T20:09:37ZThree charts on: Australia’s addiction to poker machines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174657/original/file-20170620-24885-ggjhtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pokie losses in Australia's pubs and clubs increased fourfold between 1990 and 2000.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Jeffers</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia has <a href="http://gamingta.com/australia-has-2-4-of-the-worlds-gaming-machines/">more poker machines per person</a> than any country in the world, excluding casino-tourism destinations like Macau and Monaco. It has nearly 200,000 machines – one for every 114 people.</p>
<p>This startling statistic resulted from a wave of pokie liberalisation during the 1990s that saw them introduced into pubs and clubs in every state and territory – except Western Australia.</p>
<p>To track the social impacts of this expansion, state and territory governments have commissioned surveys to measure the levels of gambling consumption and gambling-related harm. In total, more than 275,000 Australians have been interviewed in 42 studies of this kind since 1994. </p>
<p>We recently conducted <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4413-6">an analysis</a> of these studies to build a nationwide picture of how pokie gambling has changed across Australia over the past 25 years. We linked the participation rates reported by the surveys with government data on <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/">actual poker machine expenditure in pubs and clubs</a> for each jurisdiction – converted into 2015 dollars to account for inflation. </p>
<p>The expenditure data exclude poker machines in casinos; these data are not disaggregated for government reporting purposes.</p>
<p>Consequently, the figures we present here should be considered minimums – especially in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, where a large proportion of pokies are located in casinos. WA is excluded from the expenditure analysis because it has no pokies outside Burswood Casino.</p>
<h2>A recent gradual decline in pokie losses</h2>
<p>Nationally, pokie losses in pubs and clubs increased fourfold between 1990 and 2000 before plateauing at around A$860 per adult per year in 2005. Since 2005, there has been a consistent gradual decline in gambling losses across the various jurisdictions. Throughout this period, pokie losses per adult in New South Wales have remained around 50% higher than the national average. </p>
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<p>The biggest contributor to the decline since 2005 has been tobacco control, not gambling policy. The introduction of indoor smoking bans across Australia in the 2000s <a href="http://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2006.051557">hit pokie revenues</a> quite hard. </p>
<p>It is also likely that caps on pokie numbers – which have been relatively stable since 2000 – <a href="http://doi.org/10.4309/jgi.2013.28.2">played a role</a> in limiting pokie expenditure.</p>
<p>However, this should give no reason for complacency. The decline in pokie revenue is slowing, and possibly beginning to reverse in NSW, the NT and Queensland.</p>
<p>Current annual losses on pokies in pubs and clubs for Australia amount to $633 per adult. Losses in NSW are highest at $978 per adult and lowest in Tasmania at $283 per adult – although casinos play a more important role in Tasmania. </p>
<p>These figures are <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-4">very high by world standards</a>. The losses by Australians on pokies outside of casinos dwarf those of any other comparable country. They are 2.4 times greater than those of our nearest rival, Italy.</p>
<p>These losses are even more anomalous when compared to non-casino gambling machines in other English-speaking countries. Australians lose three times more than New Zealanders, 4.1 times more than Canadians, 6.4 times more than the Irish, 7.5 times more than the British, and 9.8 times more than Americans.</p>
<h2>Falling numbers of pokie gamblers</h2>
<p>The modest decline in losses since the mid-2000s has been driven by a falling number of people playing the pokies. </p>
<p>The chart below shows the proportion of the adult population in each Australian state or territory that gambles on pokies at least once per year. These proportions are derived from the surveys described above. Each survey estimate is represented by a single dot.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175149/original/file-20170622-3049-1nu8fwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175149/original/file-20170622-3049-1nu8fwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175149/original/file-20170622-3049-1nu8fwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175149/original/file-20170622-3049-1nu8fwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175149/original/file-20170622-3049-1nu8fwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175149/original/file-20170622-3049-1nu8fwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175149/original/file-20170622-3049-1nu8fwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Participation rates peaked shortly after pokies were introduced in the late 1990s at around 40% for the larger states. Since that time, participation has consistently dropped to below 30% across Australia and has fallen to less than 20% in Tasmania, Victoria and the ACT.</p>
<h2>Amounts lost per gambler have remained constant</h2>
<p>Dividing the pokie losses in clubs and pubs for each jurisdiction by the number of actual gamblers reveals the average amount lost per pokie gambler per year as shown by the chart below. Some lines on this chart are shorter than others because the survey-based participation data is not uniformly available.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174874/original/file-20170621-30211-1i5o31p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174874/original/file-20170621-30211-1i5o31p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174874/original/file-20170621-30211-1i5o31p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174874/original/file-20170621-30211-1i5o31p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174874/original/file-20170621-30211-1i5o31p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174874/original/file-20170621-30211-1i5o31p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174874/original/file-20170621-30211-1i5o31p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reduction in total pokie losses since 2005 has not been matched by a corresponding decline in losses per individual gambler. After a reduction due to the smoking bans, losses per gambler appear to have plateaued – with some jurisdictions trending up (ACT and NT) and others down (NSW and SA). </p>
<p>This suggests that while fewer people are playing the pokies, the amount of money lost per gambler has remained relatively constant. And this amount appears very high. </p>
<p>The amount lost per pokie gambler (just in pubs and clubs) in both NSW and Victoria is around $3,500 per year, or around $65 per week. The ACT sits at around $3,000 per gambler per year, followed by the NT and Tasmania at around $1,500 per year.</p>
<p>To put this in some perspective, the average Australian adult <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/5204.02014-15?OpenDocument">spent $1,245</a> on electricity and gas in 2014-15. </p>
<p>And while we now have concerted government action to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-finkel-review-finally-a-sensible-and-solid-footing-for-the-electricity-sector-79118">reduce energy costs</a>, the regulatory reforms required to reduce the amount of losses for pokie gamblers are not on the legislative agenda in most of Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Young has previously received research funding from the Australian Research Council, Gambling Research Australia, and several state government departments. His research is currently funded by the Community Benefit Fund of the Northern Territory Government. In addition to his SCU position, he a Visiting Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Markham has received funding from or been employed on projects that received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Community Benefit Fund of the Northern Territory and the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission. He has had his travel expenses to speak at an international conference paid for by the Alberta Gambling Research Institute, an organisation that is funded by the provincial government of Alberta. He is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia.
</span></em></p>While fewer people are gambling on the pokies, the amount of money lost per gambler has remained relatively constant over time.Martin Young, Associate Professor, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross UniversityFrancis Markham, Research Fellow, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/731932017-04-04T19:28:33Z2017-04-04T19:28:33ZHow one family used pokies and politics to extract a fortune from Tasmanians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161926/original/image-20170322-24884-70mcnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new book tells a detailed story of how policy decisions about pokies are actually made.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-boyce-131719">James Boyce’s</a> new book <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/losing-streak">Losing Streak</a> charts the story of how Federal Hotels gained an exclusive licence to operate all of Tasmania’s 3,500 poker machines for free. The company’s owners, the Farrell family, <a href="http://www.afr.com/leadership/brw-lists/rich-families/brw-rich-families-2015-20160303-gn9flu">amassed a fortune of A$463 million</a> in the process.</p>
<p>The book provides a detailed account of the cosy and conflicted relationships between a gambling corporation and decision-makers that has gifted a public licence worth around $30 million per year to Federal for 30 years. Boyce tells a detailed story of how policy decisions about pokies are actually made. </p>
<p>In Tasmania’s case, a changing cast of actors has colluded to grant extreme riches to a single family, extracted in large part from <a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanias-pokie-problem-stress-and-disadvantage-exploited-more-than-anywhere-else-in-australia-73525">the state’s most disadvantaged citizens</a>. The book’s publication is beautifully timed, poised to enliven the debate surrounding the current <a href="http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/Joint/FutureGamingMarkets.htm">parliamentary inquiry</a> that threatens to <a href="http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/Joint/TermsofReference/FGM%20additional%20ToR_a.pdf">end Federal’s monopoly</a> after 2023. </p>
<p>The author is by no means a neutral observer of these events. Boyce has been an advocate for pokie reform in Tasmania for close to two decades. However, he is also an acclaimed historian – and his meticulous referencing to sources in the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office and the Tasmanian Parliamentary Library ensures his claims are open to verification.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/bMTdQ/3/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="465"></iframe>
<h2>Casinos and allegations of corruption</h2>
<p>Boyce’s primary task is to narrate the history of pokie legalisation in Tasmania, and explain how Federal gained its extraordinary monopoly on their ownership. He begins his account in 1967 with the proposal for Australia’s first casino, at Wrest Point in Hobart. </p>
<p>The process was marked by secret negotiations, overblown claims of public benefit from economic development, and an ultimately broken pledge that the casino would not contain pokies. Today, Wrest Point is little more than a hotel attached to a run-down “pokies barn”. It makes 86% of its gambling revenue <a href="https://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/LookupFiles/TLGCAnnualReport2015-16.pdf/$file/TLGCAnnualReport2015-16.pdf">from high-intensity pokies</a>. </p>
<p>To observers today, this story <a href="https://theconversation.com/packers-barangaroo-casino-and-the-inevitability-of-pokies-15892">will sound familiar</a>.</p>
<p>Most startling, Boyce describes – in a chapter titled “Was the deputy premier bribed?” – the little-known allegations of corruption that surrounded the licensing of a second casino in Launceston. These allegations surrounded the deputy premier, Kevin Lyons, who held the balance of power in a Liberal minority government, abruptly and unexpectedly quitting the Coalition in 1972. His departure brought down a government that was poised to introduce competition into the casino market. </p>
<p>Boyce makes the convincing argument that Lyons appeared to have been bribed by Federal Hotels, a Hobart-based bookmaker, and British Tobacco. Federal’s motive is suggested to be the protection of its casino monopoly. </p>
<p>Boyce documents a payment to Lyons of the equivalent of $250,000 in today’s dollars as an advance for his memoirs – a manuscript that was never written. Lyons was also gifted a “loan” worth $10,500 today from Federal, which also took out a lucrative contract with the business he established upon his retirement from politics. </p>
<p>Lyons, it seems, had planned his departure several months in advance, taking advice from a shadow cabinet member.</p>
<p>Boyce documents a subsequent police investigation that he argues was deeply flawed, and not released at the time to public or parliamentary scrutiny.</p>
<p>Federal ultimately won the Launceston casino licence.</p>
<h2>Monopoly licence</h2>
<p>A subsequent string of bizarre government decisions – which have been hugely profitable for Federal – have had a much greater negative impact on Tasmanians than the two casinos. Most crucial of these was the 1993 decision to allow pokies into hotels and clubs. While Tasmania was hardly alone in introducing pokies at this time, the nature of the licence was extraordinary.</p>
<p>The model proposed by the government was to allow a single monopoly operator to own all of Tasmania’s pokies. The idea was that various parties would regularly tender for this privilege. This market-based mechanism was designed to stop operators from being able to reap excessive profits. </p>
<p>Federal was vehemently opposed to any competition. It prepared a well-funded campaign against the proposal.</p>
<p>Amid political deadlock, the Groom government suddenly changed its plan. A rapidly negotiated agreement gave Federal an exclusive licence to own every poker machine in Tasmania. </p>
<p>Instead of this licence going to tender it was given to Federal for free – a gift worth around $30 million per year. As a bonus, the tax rate was lowered, and pokies were also allowed in Federal’s two casinos. </p>
<p>The Groom government’s motivations have never been adequately explained. For Boyce:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The only conceivable reason for the dramatic policy shift was to win over Federal Hotels … [whose] power was such that only with the company’s support would the legislation to allow poker machines in pubs and clubs pass through parliament.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2002, the licence was extended to 2023 – with no public debate and few concessions to the public interest.</p>
<h2>Consequences</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161930/original/image-20170322-5397-xjuvay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Black Inc</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Since the introduction of pokies in 1997, Federal has effectively acted as a private taxman in Tasmania. Its monopoly has made the Farrell family fabulously wealthy. Their fortune was gained not by innovation or business acumen, but by gaining control of a lucrative government licence on extraordinarily favourable terms.</p>
<p>With the introduction of poker machines, Federal’s annual profits went from $600,000 in 1993 to $29 million in 2003. Little of the revenue goes to pubs or clubs or finds its way into government coffers. </p>
<p>Even after tax, Boyce calculates, Federal retains 68 cents of every dollar lost on poker machines. Nor have pokies been good for the Tasmania economy at large: employment in the pubs and clubs sector has fallen 14% since the introduction of pokies.</p>
<h2>Industry tactics</h2>
<p>According to Boyce, Federal would wait for “trigger points” before initiating secret negotiations with the government on key issues like licence renewals. Such trigger points occurred when the government needed something from Federal, and at a time of low political risk, many years out from an election – so the possibility of democratic deliberation could be limited. </p>
<p>All negotiations would occur behind closed doors. The results were presented as fait accompli signed contracts – even when these deals required legislative approval.</p>
<p>But why would so many governments from across the political spectrum and over 40 years be complicit in this? Boyce, in agreement with <a href="http://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316118689">much of the academic literature</a>, cites the ability of Federal to create conflicts of interest among key stakeholders, from politicians to industry bodies to civil society actors. </p>
<p>Influence is mostly wielded by small political donations and in-kind support to politicians and civil society actors. Key to this is face-to-face, first-name-terms relationships with politicians in which informal obligations can be exchanged and private understandings reached. </p>
<h2>An exceptional case?</h2>
<p>These tactics are business as usual for the gambling industries. Although Boyce’s book focuses on Tasmania, the case is unexceptional. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Federal’s actions to secure a monopoly over a revenue stream is mirrored by pokie proprietors <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-wins-from-big-gambling-in-australia-22930">throughout Australia</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>An <a href="https://theconversation.com/gambling-industry-finds-plenty-of-political-guns-for-hire-to-defend-the-status-quo-70124">array of former politicians</a> deliver the gambling industries the face-to-face access they require to gain and retain favourable licence conditions and delay public health reforms. </p></li>
<li><p>The Australian gambling industry’s relatively modest political donations – <a href="https://theconversation.com/gambling-lobby-gives-big-to-political-parties-and-names-names-73131">$1.3 million in 2015-16</a>, or just 0.006% of total gambling revenue – appear to go hand-in-hand with successive governments’ creation of favourable business conditions for proprietors.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>It is now abundantly clear that the super-profits generated by pokies and other <a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301151">“addiction industries”</a> have the potential to stymie policymaking in the public interest in liberal democracies. The repetition of these outcomes across jurisdictions and over time make it clear this is a systemic problem, and not just a case of a few individuals behaving badly. </p>
<p>Pokie licences have consistently transferred wealth from the worst-off of Australia’s citizens to a small cohort of wealthy individuals. The great value of Boyce’s work is in his meticulous chronicling of the interactions between Tasmanian political and business elites in all their tragic and tawdry detail.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Markham has received funding from or been employed on projects that received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Community Benefit Fund of the Northern Territory and the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission. He is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Young has previously received research funding from the Australian Research Council, Gambling Research Australia, and several state government departments. His research is currently funded by the Community Benefit Fund of the Northern Territory Government. In addition to his SCU position, he a Visiting Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Kinder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Tasmania, a changing cast of actors has colluded to grant extreme riches to a single family, extracted in large part from the state’s most disadvantaged citizens.Francis Markham, PhD Candidate, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityBarbara Kinder, PhD Student, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross UniversityMartin Young, Associate Professor, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/735252017-02-28T19:10:46Z2017-02-28T19:10:46ZTasmania’s pokie problem: stress and disadvantage exploited more than anywhere else in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158484/original/image-20170227-27375-1u9qn0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If you live near a pokie venue, you are more likely to gamble and suffer harm.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Tasmanian parliament is in the middle of an inquiry into the way poker machines will be regulated and licensed after 2023. The inquiry’s <a href="http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/Joint/TermsofReference/FGM%20ToR%20Gaming%20Inquiry%202016.pdf">terms of reference</a> include:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Consideration of community attitudes and aspirations of the gambling industry in Tasmania, with particular focus on location, number and type of poker machines in the state.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pokies in local Tasmanian pubs and clubs made <a href="https://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/714a9215f1fdf2dfca25798f00012c71/ae88b7f00e2c38b1ca257d820017725c?OpenDocument">over A$113 million</a> in 2015-16. That’s an average of more than A$280 per adult. Not a huge amount, you might think. The problem is, the pokies aren’t evenly distributed. As we know from <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/16066359.2012.727507">other research</a>, pokies are concentrated in areas of social and economic stress. </p>
<p>If you live near a pokie venue, you are more <a href="https://theconversation.com/too-close-to-home-people-who-live-near-pokie-venues-at-risk-20771">likely to gamble, and suffer harm</a>. The more profitable the gambling venue, the more likely it is to be associated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/too-close-to-home-people-who-live-near-pokie-venues-at-risk-20771">higher levels of harm</a>. This includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/areas-with-more-poker-machines-have-higher-rates-of-domestic-violence-66982">escalated rates of family violence</a>. </p>
<p>Any inquiry into poker machine regulations should arguably have some knowledge of where the venues and machines are located. It should also question whether this distribution is likely to maximise or minimise rates of harm. </p>
<p>We have been examining the distribution of pokies in Tasmania. What our research reveals is quite alarming. Australian jurisdictions generally have more pokies in socio-economically stressed neighbourhoods. But Tasmania’s pokie distribution takes this to a new level.</p>
<h2>Our modelling</h2>
<p>The Tasmanian Liquor and Gambling Commission publishes some <a href="https://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/v-liq-and-gaming/16CC296F188AEE2CCA257D8E001F13F9">data</a> on the state’s pokie revenue and numbers. This has allowed us to identify the pattern of distribution at the local government level. </p>
<p>Unlike <a href="http://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/resources/data-and-research/gambling-data/gaming-expenditure-venue">Victoria</a>, the Tasmanian data do not provide details of expenditure (that is, player losses) at the venue level. Nonetheless, we have been able to undertake some relevant preliminary research.</p>
<p>Using the Australian Bureau of Statistics census-derived <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/seifa">SEIFA</a> index of relative socio-economic disadvantage, we plotted the relationship between socio-economic stress and pokie data. That is, the number of machines per 1,000 adults, and the average pokie losses per adult in each local government area where data were available. This included the combined municipalities. </p>
<p>The more disadvantaged a local government area is, the more likely it is to have many pokies. </p>
<p>The below graph shows this trend, which is strongly significant in a statistical sense.</p>
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<p>The same is true for the relationship between the SEIFA index and the amount of money lost per adult on average, only more so. Here, disadvantage predicts higher expenditure. </p>
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<p>In Tasmania, poker machines are operated by a monopoly, the <a href="http://www.federalgroup.com.au/">Federal Group</a>. According to their website, Federal is a “privately owned family company” belonging to the Farrell family. They operate both Tasmania’s casinos: Wrest Point in Hobart, and the Country Club near Launceston. </p>
<p>They either own and operate, or own and license, the operation of all poker machines in clubs and pubs. These arrangements are unique in Australia, and very uncommon anywhere else.</p>
<p>Our modelling shows that in Tasmania, the monopoly system has allowed operators to cherry-pick the market. This was also true in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14459800108732287">Victoria in the days of the pokie duopoly</a>. Until 2012, Tattersalls and TabCorp between them ran the state’s pub and club pokies. </p>
<p>The oligopoly allowed them to locate pokies in areas where they made the most money. These tended to be where people were under socio-economic stress. The Tasmanian monopoly permits the same degree of control, and it appears to have been used to maximise revenue.</p>
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<hr>
<h2>Pokies in Tasmania</h2>
<p>The gambling industry inquiry has the potential to upset a few apple carts. It is conducted by a <a href="http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/Joint/FutureGamingMarkets.htm">Parliamentary Joint Select Committee</a> of six members. Three are upper house independents. From the lower house there’s one each from the governing Liberal Party, Labor, and the Greens.</p>
<p>There have been 148 submissions to the committee, mostly from individuals. However, gambling industry heavy-hitters, including Australian Leisure and Hospitality (Woolworths joint-venture pokie arm) and Clubs Australia, have made submissions.</p>
<p>This inquiry is garnering considerable interest in Tasmania. Groups such as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Rein-In-The-Pokies-191187691233681/">Rein in the Pokies</a> and <a href="https://sarc.good.do/getthepokiesoutoftasmaniaspubsandclubs/pages/who-we-are/">Community Voice on Pokies Reform</a> want pokies out of local pub and club venues.</p>
<p>Greg Farrell, managing director of Federal, told the inquiry in early February he believes <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-07/gambling-inquiry-into-new-tasmanian-laws/8247910">the majority of Tasmanians</a> don’t care about pokies, citing research conducted by his company. He said he wasn’t aware of <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2009/report">contradictory research reported at table 14.2</a> of the Productivity Commission’s 2010 Gambling inquiry report. That research indicated that over 83% of Tasmanians wanted the pokies reined in. </p>
<p>We know now what pokies do, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/bright-lights-big-losses-how-poker-machines-create-addicts-and-rob-them-blind-49143">how they do it</a>. People under stress do not make more use of pokies because they’re weak or lacking in will. </p>
<p>Pokies use the brain’s reward mechanism to release dopamine. This mechanism is strongly linked to addiction, and, like narcotics, provides temporary relief from stress and anxiety. Pokies provide a perfect storm of addictive incentives. Locating them, or allowing them to be located, in areas where people are likely to be stressed and in need of relief represents a cynical and arguably exploitative way to make money.</p>
<p>We have presented the data to the Tasmanian committee. One thing that could be done immediately is increase the transparency of data to at least the level of disclosure provided in Victoria. Better data means better analysis and more scrutiny of a harmful industry. That would likely lead to better regulation and less harm.</p>
<p>For now, what is clear is allowing pokies to continue to be concentrated in Tasmania’s most stressed local areas will continue to cause preventable harm to tens of thousands of Tasmanians every year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and The (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens. He made a submission to the Tasmanian Parliamentary Inquiry into future gaming markets and is scheduled to give evidence to the committee in late February.</span></em></p>Allowing pokies to continue to be concentrated in Tasmania’s most stressed local areas will continue to cause preventable harm to tens of thousands of Tasmanians every year.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/731312017-02-22T19:19:27Z2017-02-22T19:19:27ZGambling lobby gives big to political parties, and names names<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157811/original/image-20170222-20339-10gccf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The gambling lobby continues to provide substantial support to political parties.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The gambling industry declared A$1,294,501 in donations to Australian political parties in 2015-16. Our analysis of the latest <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au">Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) donation</a> disclosures shows various branches of the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) were by far the biggest donors among gambling industry groups.</p>
<p>Collectively, the AHA showered the major parties with $522,478 in declared donations. Lagging a little behind the AHA last year was ClubsNSW, which donated $155,603.</p>
<p>Two casino operators, Crown and Star Entertainment, declared $168,491 and $77,200 respectively in 2015-16. Tabcorp and Tattersall’s chipped in $164,650 and $94,329 respectively. </p>
<p>Assorted other entities such as ClubsQld, the Sutherland Tradies Club and the Randwick Labor Club declared donations of between $17,050 and $50,000 each.</p>
<p>Overall, the Coalition parties were the “winners” from gambling donations reported in 2015-16, receiving a total of $770,861. The ALP received $523,640. This was a 60:40 split.</p>
<p>The gambling lobby invested quite disproportionately in individual Labor candidates, donating $116,000 to individual campaigns. Liberal and National Party candidates were recorded as receiving $41,000 in specific campaign donations. </p>
<p>This doesn’t mean such donations weren’t made – but it is revealing that mostly ALP candidates’ details were disclosed. </p>
<h2>Donations to MPs</h2>
<p>Big donations from the gambling lobby are clearly <a href="https://theconversation.com/paying-the-piper-and-calling-the-tune-following-clubsnsws-political-donations-60639">not new</a>. But this year’s returns demonstrate that even when the stakes aren’t that high, the gambling lobby continues to defend its interests with major political parties. </p>
<p>Between 2010 and 2012, when stakes were higher, these actors and others spent $3,478,581 on <a href="https://theconversation.com/paying-the-piper-and-calling-the-tune-following-clubsnsws-political-donations-60639">campaign costs to defeat</a> the gambling reforms agreed between then prime minister Julia Gillard and independent MP Andrew Wilkie. </p>
<p>Wilkie and another long-time gambling reformist, Senator Nick Xenophon, list <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2016/s4503734.htm">donations reform</a> as an important element of any decent gambling reform package. They know how much influence the gambling lobby can afford to buy. </p>
<p>The funding of specific politicians has also continued. ClubsNSW turned this into something of an art form when the Wilkie-Gillard reforms were proposed and then defeated. Undoubtedly, influential caucus members articulating the gambling lobby’s perspective helped underline the political dangers of reform. </p>
<p>The 2015-16 returns don’t include all the donations made in respect of the 2016 election. This was demonstrated by the curious case of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-01/turnbull-admits-donating-1.75-million-to-election-campaign/8233244">own donation of $1.75 million</a> to the Liberal Party. So, we can expect to find out a bit more in about a year – barring some much-needed substantial reform of the system.</p>
<p>In the 2015-16 returns, however, the federal branch of the AHA identified specific beneficiaries of its largesse. Its original return included notations of donations to the campaigns of the following politicians:</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4i6qH/2/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="402"></iframe>
<p>A subsequent amendment to the return, dated February 1 2017, has now been submitted to the AEC, excluding these names. </p>
<p>ClubsNSW also noted donations on its return to the following:</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HCRlw/3/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="262"></iframe>
<p>This may provide some insight into what the gambling lobby thinks is the best way to focus attention of specific members of parties. </p>
<p>For example, the effectiveness of the anti-reform campaign in 2010-11 was based on the carrot-and-stick approach <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/the-lobby-group-that-got-much-more-bang-for-its-buck">adopted under the leadership of ClubsNSW</a>. This involved campaigning against individual politicians who were seen to support the Gillard-Wilkie agreement. </p>
<p>At the same time, the lobby actively supported politicians who were <a href="https://theconversation.com/paying-the-piper-and-calling-the-tune-following-clubsnsws-political-donations-60639">perceived as friends</a> for whatever reason. </p>
<p>Federal MP Kevin Andrews also gleaned a contribution of $2,000 to his Menzies 200 campaign fund from ClubsNSW. This was for a dinner he organised at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Club. ClubsNSW donated a <a href="https://theconversation.com/paying-the-piper-and-calling-the-tune-following-clubsnsws-political-donations-60639">total of $40,000 between 2013 and 2015</a> to Andrews even though he represents a Victorian seat.</p>
<p>With donations from the AHA included, Andrews’ campaign fund <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/machine-men-how-the-aha-and-clubsnsw-seek-political-influence-20160929-grrxe9.html">received a total</a> of $90,000 from gambling industry interests over this period. </p>
<p>He was the opposition spokesman for gambling matters prior to the 2013 election. After this and on his appointment as the responsible minister, he quickly repealed the already watered-down pokie reforms the Gillard government had passed.</p>
<h2>Road to reform</h2>
<p>There is no suggestion or implication politicians or political parties are influenced in their decision-making or policy positions by political donations. Nonetheless, a more transparent and much more timely political donations reporting system would enhance public confidence in the quality of decision-making, and its relationship to the public’s best interests. </p>
<p>Details of donations are often lacking. This is because declaration requirements of the current system are limited. Donations of <a href="http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/financial_disclosure/Overview.htm">less than $13,000</a> do not need to be specifically disclosed. Cumulative donations to different branches of the same organisation (otherwise known as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-01/political-donations-likened-to-money-laundering/8227952">donation splitting</a>) can amount to more than this without any need for disclosure.</p>
<p>Further, donations to “associated entities” are used to muddy the waters – in effect, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-01/political-donations-likened-to-money-laundering/8227952">to “launder” donations</a> by disguising the name of the donor. This also avoids disclosure. </p>
<p>Both Labor leader <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/34396924/shorten-wants-more-donation-transparency/#page1">Bill Shorten</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-08/malcolm-turnbull-indicates-open-changing-political-donations-law/7826060">Turnbull</a> have signalled recently they want donations reform on the table. It may be time to remind them a complete loss of faith in political processes is not inevitable. It’s something politicians can tackle, and relatively easily. </p>
<p>Serious political donations reform is a big step towards a more trusted political system. You can bet on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and The (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Johnson is a recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) funded by the Australian government. She has also undertaken research on gambling industry political donations for the Alliance for Gambling Reform. </span></em></p>The gambling industry continues to make handsome donations to our politicians, and recently named some of those it supports.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityMaggie Johnson, PhD Student, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/705742016-12-19T01:43:08Z2016-12-19T01:43:08ZColes wants $1 maximum bets for pokies – so why won’t the pokie-makers play ball?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150626/original/image-20161218-28140-1u6vda9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pokies are great money-spinners for hotels, clubs and casinos in Australia, and increasingly internationally.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Tracey Nearmy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wesfarmers, operator of Coles and other retail brands, <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/gambling/wesfarmers-stonewalled-on-push-for-1-pokies-20161218-gtdgge">reportedly wants to pursue</a> harm-prevention modifications to its poker machines. It has asked five pokie manufacturers, including Aristocrat Leisure, for help in trying out games with a maximum bet of A$1.</p>
<p>All have refused, apparently citing costs.</p>
<p>Like Woolworths, Coles – which operates the pokies through its hotels – is a major player in this space. It operates more than 3,000 machines in Queensland and South Australia. But, seemingly unlike Woolworths, Coles is concerned about these machines’ potential for harm.</p>
<h2>A true money-spinner</h2>
<p>Woolworths, through its subsidiary ALH Limited, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/poker-machine-reform-raises-stakes-for-woolworths-supermarket-chain-20160721-gqb4qz.html">operates</a> more than 12,000 pokies across Australia. Net revenue from these is around $1.1 billion per year; the business is a 75:25 partnership with the Mathieson family’s businesses.</p>
<p>Coles’ revenue from its machines is much lower – around $185 million. </p>
<p>Pokies are great money-spinners for hotels, clubs and casinos in Australia, and increasingly internationally. But the technology behind them is not particularly novel. Contemporary pokies are quite straightforward computers, albeit housed in a novel case and with a customised display.</p>
<p>What makes them different is their software, which uses well-established psychological principles to <a href="https://theconversation.com/bright-lights-big-losses-how-poker-machines-create-addicts-and-rob-them-blind-49143">make them “attractive”</a> to punters. </p>
<p>But the features that make pokies “attractive” also make them addictive. The Productivity Commission <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2009/report#contents">has estimated</a> that 42% of pokie revenue comes from people with a serious pokie addiction – and another 20% comes from those with a developing habit.</p>
<h2>Manufacturers have acted in the past</h2>
<p>Given pokies’ computerised basis, the manufacturers’ refusal to work with Coles is remarkable. </p>
<p>Like all companies in the business, Aristocrat Leisure prides itself on its <a href="https://www.aristocrat.com/innovation/">innovative capacity</a>. Through its then-European subsidiary Aristocrat Lotteries, Aristocrat developed and provided the Multix game terminal <a href="http://www.responsiblegambling.org/docs/discovery-2012/the-norwegian-story---with-a-happy-ending-.pdf?sfvrsn=12">to Norsk Tipping</a>, the Norwegian gambling operator, from 2008 onwards. Aristocrat <a href="http://www.gamingintelligence.com/manda/28191-playtech-completes-acquisition-of-aristocrat-lotteries">sold the business</a> in 2014.</p>
<p>The interesting aspect of the Multix terminal is that it was intended to provide a much safer and less harmful slot-machine-like product. These replaced the existing slots, which the Norwegian government nationalised and withdrew from operation in July 2007. </p>
<p>The machine provides a platform for multiple games, imposes a statutory limit on how much people can spend, and operates on an account-only basis. Users can track spending and reduce their daily limits if they want to be careful. Thus, it incorporates a host of consumer safety and harm minimisation/prevention measures.</p>
<p>Closer to home, the Victorian government <a href="http://www.betsafe.com.au/resources/gambling_articles/developments_in_responsible_gambling/">introduced</a> a reduced maximum bet limit and reduced load-up limits in 2009. Aristocrat, along with other manufacturers, had to find a solution for these new requirements. That wasn’t very difficult. </p>
<p>The game software required some alteration, and cabinet artwork had to be reconfigured in some cases. It cost somewhere in the tens of millions, but there were no publicly aired complaints and it was implemented smoothly. For a business that makes around $2.6 billion a year, that was small change.</p>
<p>The Tasmanian pokie industry has recently undergone a <a href="https://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/LookupFiles/TGCprogress5July2013.pdf/$file/TGCprogress5July2013.pdf">similar transformation</a>, again without too much fuss.</p>
<p>Perhaps the reduction from $10 bets to $5 bets didn’t threaten the industry too much. And reducing the load-up limit from $9,949 to $1,000 in Victoria was a no-brainer.</p>
<h2>Why won’t the manufacturers play ball?</h2>
<p>There may be many reasons for the manufacturers’ refusal to agree to Coles’ request, but it is clear the vanguard for the Australian pokie industry lies in New South Wales – particularly with lobby group ClubsNSW. Club businesses <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/">operate</a> 70% of NSW’s 95,000 pokies. These made their operators $5.8 billion in 2014-15, of which the clubs made around $4 billion.</p>
<p>Pokie games are upgraded regularly, and the machines themselves tend to be turned over every five years or so. Even putting aside maintenance and upgrades, selling around 20,000 machines every year to clubs and pubs in NSW would earn the manufacturers around $500 million. So, losing a share of that business would be something to avoid.</p>
<p>A successful trial of $1 bets could demonstrate that pokie harm could be reduced. If that occurred, the revenue model for NSW club businesses <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2011/09/27/clubs-australia-campaignand-pokies-revenue/">that rely heavily</a> on pokie revenue would be rattled. </p>
<p>When the Productivity Commission recommended $1 maximum bets and pre-commitment as likely good responses to pokie addiction and harm, the gambling industry, led by ClubsNSW, <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/the-lobby-group-that-got-much-more-bang-for-its-buck">railed against them</a> as unproven and experimental.</p>
<p>That wasn’t true, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10899-005-5560-8">even then</a>, as the industry well knows – it <a href="http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/gambling/GIO_report.pdf">funded the original research</a>. But why not seize the opportunity to acquire some more useful evidence through a trial?</p>
<p>The harm pokies cause is widespread and tends to affect those already under significant stress. Moving to $1 bets is a good first step toward reducing this harm, and Coles acknowledges it can’t continue in this business unless it finds a way to reduce avoidable harm. </p>
<p>There are many other ways to limit harm, however, as the manufacturers know full well. They’ve been innovating to make their products as “attractive” as possible for the last 100 years or so.</p>
<p>If they wanted to, they could also lead the way in making machines safe, and fun. Perhaps the super profits might be wound back. The operators would be able to claim they really do care about their customers’ wellbeing. </p>
<p>Clearly, that’s a claim Coles is keen to make. The manufacturers? Maybe not so much.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from Victorian and South Australian government agencies (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Centre, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens and of the Alliance for Gambling Reform. </span></em></p>The harm pokies cause is widespread and tends to affect those already under significant stress. $1 bets are a good first step toward reducing this harm.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/701242016-12-13T19:06:14Z2016-12-13T19:06:14ZGambling industry finds plenty of political guns for hire to defend the status quo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149556/original/image-20161212-31364-1kraoqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stephen Conroy is to head up a new gambling industry body, Responsible Wagering Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Former Labor senator Stephen Conroy, who left parliament in September, has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/stephen-conroy-to-head-up-responsible-wagering-australia-body/news-story/654a0ae279758b78584751702968f322">gone to work for</a> the gambling industry as head of a new body, Responsible Wagering Australia.</p>
<p>This is unsurprising. Conroy has been preceded in this course by several colleagues and opponents, including Labor’s former national secretary <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/bitar-says-casino-role-is-to-promote-tourism-20110525-1f4hv.html">Karl Bitar</a> and ex-Labor senator <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/casino-empire-grows-with-help-from-powerful-friends-20130622-2opa0.html">Mark Arbib</a>. <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/a-man-of-influence/2007/05/11/1178390548792.html">David White</a>, a former minister in the Cain-Kirner Victorian Labor government, ended up working as a lobbyist for Tattersalls via lobbyist firm Hawker Britton.</p>
<p>Of the Liberals, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/peta-credlin-takes-up-packer-policy-position-at-consolidated-press-holdings-20160827-gr2inc.html">Peta Credlin</a>, former chief-of-staff to Tony Abbott, works for James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings, which owns a major share of gambling giant Crown. And one-time federal Liberal minister <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-26/coonan-offered-position-on-casino-board/2856858">Helen Coonan</a> continues to be a board member of Crown.</p>
<p>Former NSW premier <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/former-nsw-premier-barry-ofarrell-appointed-racing-australias-new-chief-executive-officer-20161207-gt5qrh.html">Barry O’Farrell</a> recently accepted a job as CEO of the industry body Racing Australia. He replaces former federal National Party minister Peter McGauran, who has gone off to work for Tabcorp.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1579&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1579&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1985&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1985&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149811/original/image-20161213-1596-1ki9v06.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1985&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>So, the gambling industry certainly holds an attraction for former politicians. Perhaps it’s all that money and the attraction of staying in the game – even if at a peripheral level.</p>
<h2>The ‘responsibility’ of gambling</h2>
<p>Conroy’s job seems a little different to most; his new employer is <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/stephen-conroy-to-head-up-responsible-wagering-australia-body/news-story/654a0ae279758b78584751702968f322">Responsible Wagering Australia</a>. It was born from the ashes of the Australian Wagering Council, an industry peak body that imploded under the weight of <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/australian-wagering-council-to-disband-after-inplay-bet-ban/news-story/2b4ee70e82e2839040cbfc9e6917cbd0">its own contradictions</a>. This time around, it looks and sounds like a SAPRO, or social aspect public relations organisation.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110957/">SAPROs</a> have been around for a long time, particularly in the alcohol field. But none have so far popped up in Australia for gambling.</p>
<p>The key international SAPRO is the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3490544/">International Center for Alcohol Policy</a>. Its function is to provide the appearance of concern and action on the part of a specific industry while keeping things on an even keel. Business as usual is very much the unwritten motto of any SAPRO.</p>
<p><a href="https://drinkwise.org.au/">DrinkWise</a> is a good Australian example. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21781203">It says</a> it is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Our primary focus is to help bring about a healthier and safer drinking culture in Australia. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seeks to do this by promoting change in the way Australians drink alcohol. It is also worried about the age at which young people are introduced to the products manufactured or sold by its <a href="https://drinkwise.org.au/about-us/about/#">14 industry sponsors</a>. And, like the UK gambling SAPRO the Responsible Gambling Trust (recently rebranded as <a href="http://about.gambleaware.org/about/">GambleAware</a>, DrinkWise also commissions research.</p>
<p>Importantly, what DrinkWise does is nuance its message around “responsible drinking” – that is, the idea that individuals are essentially responsible for their own behaviours. The solutions it suggests are those from the more ineffective end of the harm reduction/prevention spectrum, such as education and individual behaviour change.</p>
<p>What you won’t find in DrinkWise’s repertoire (or, indeed, in that of other SAPROs) are interventions that affect the industry’s bottom line. Forget about price increases, restrictions on advertising, or proliferation of alcohol outlets. It’s all about individual responsibility.</p>
<p>Tobacco consumption <a href="http://www.health.gov.au/tobacco">has declined</a> in Australia and some other parts of the world because we stopped telling people what to do (“don’t smoke”) and helped them make better decisions about smoking. </p>
<p>The way to do this was to stop tobacco advertising and sponsorship of sport, restrict where smoking was permitted, increase the price of tobacco, and help people quit. The effect has been a dramatic reduction in the incidence of lung disease, especially <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2953697.htm">lung cancers</a>. None of that would have been achieved had a “responsible smoking” mantra held sway.</p>
<p>The Australian gambling industry, up to this point, has not seen the need to launch a SAPRO. Perhaps the bookies are feeling a little pressured, given the federal government <a href="https://www.mhs.gov.au/media-releases/2016-11-10-coalition-government-introduces-legislation-combat-illegal-offshore-wagering-0">has introduced legislation</a>, including some consumer protection interventions, to help stop people getting hooked on online gambling. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://lovethegame.vic.gov.au/?gclid=CNuyrcOm7tACFYSYvAodoicCxA">bombardment of advertising</a> from bookies inflicted on anyone who watches sport on TV (including lots of kids) has helped make everyone hate the bookies. The evidence is the bookies make a lot of money out of people experiencing <a href="https://financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au/getattachment/Corporate/Home/FINAL-PDF-Duds,-Mugs-and-the-A-List-The-Impact-of-Uncontrolled-Sports-Betting-low-res.pdf">high levels of gambling harm</a>. So, ramping up the “responsible gambling” rhetoric and arguing that you don’t want anyone to get into trouble with your product might seem like a good idea.</p>
<p>“<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14459790701601810">Responsible gambling</a>”, like “responsible drinking”, is a clever-sounding way of deflecting attention away from the product. Gambling, like alcohol and tobacco, is an addictive product that generates significant super profits from those it addicts. This is why the industry has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25175598">tried very hard</a> through various means to hang on to its current arrangements.</p>
<h2>How will Conroy go?</h2>
<p>Conroy was a <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=3L6">senior minister</a> in 2010 when independent MP Andrew Wilkie signed <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110620/wilkie/docs/agreement.pdf">his agreement</a> with Julia Gillard to introduce a mechanism to let people decide in advance how much they wanted to lose on the pokies. The industry launched a <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/the-lobby-group-that-got-much-more-bang-for-its-buck">massive campaign</a> to stop that happening. </p>
<p>In addition, it has donated <a href="https://theconversation.com/paying-the-piper-and-calling-the-tune-following-clubsnsws-political-donations-60639">considerable amounts</a> to help keep politicians on side.</p>
<p>Conroy is known to be from the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Whatever_it_Takes.html?id=FLdUAAAACAAJ">whatever-it-takes school of politics</a>. His approach to his new job will therefore be interesting to observe. His connections are impeccable and his capacity to persuade appears to have been perfected by years of influence in the ALP’s internal machinations.</p>
<p>Ultimately, his job will be to make sure it is business as usual for the online bookies. If successful, that means hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of Australians will suffer avoidable harm (and in some cases illness and premature death) because of the harms associated with gambling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70124/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from Victorian and South Australian government agencies (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Centre, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens and of the Alliance for Gambling Reform. </span></em></p>The gambling industry certainly holds an attraction for former politicians. Perhaps it’s all that money, and the attraction of staying in the game – even if at a peripheral level.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/662662016-09-29T20:08:51Z2016-09-29T20:08:51ZWhy do we need ‘Pokie-Leaks’? We already know how pokies work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139678/original/image-20160929-27030-zumub0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do myths about poker machines develop?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Peled</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A trio of Australian politicians recently called for whistleblowers to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-27/pokieleaks-australians-urged-to-leak-gambling-industry-secrets/7878528">reveal secrets</a> about how the gambling industry operates. </p>
<p>While it is up for debate as to whether there are questions to be answered about various industry tactics and links to politicians, what isn’t a secret is how poker machines actually work. This information is publicly available in the <a href="http://www.gamingta.com/pdf/playerinfo.pdf">player information booklet released</a> by the Gaming Technologies Association, as well as in <a href="http://jgi.camh.net/doi/full/10.4309/jgi.2004.11.21">academic articles</a>. </p>
<p>But how do people interpret such information? And how do myths about pokies develop?</p>
<h2>Misconceptions about two basic principles</h2>
<p>While poker machines are incredibly complex, they work on two basic principles:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>they produce random outcomes; and </p></li>
<li><p>they have an expected return set somewhere between 85% and 92%, depending on the jurisdiction and choices made by the venue. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, gamblers often fail to understand these concepts properly. A large component of therapy for problem gamblers, developed at the <a href="http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/gambling_treatment_clinic/">University of Sydney’s Gambling Treatment Clinic</a> by Fadi Anjoul, is based on tackling these misconceptions and helping them understand how those misconceptions may have been driving their gambling.</p>
<p>Psychologists have long known that most people <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.412.7679&rep=rep1&type=pdf">struggle with understanding randomness</a>. Part of the problem is the way we use the word “random” in everyday speech. </p>
<p>For example, consider the sentences “the weather is random” or “the buses come at random”. Most would understand what these sentences mean: weather and bus schedules are difficult to predict. Despite this, we often make predictions on the weather and on public transport. </p>
<p>So, when we hear “poker machines are random”, we naturally interpret this in the same way: that poker machines follow general patterns, and the longer you go without a win the <a href="http://jgi.camh.net/doi/full/10.4309/jgi.2000.2.9">more likely one is to occur</a>.</p>
<p>This explains why gamblers often spend long hours in front of a poker machine. When players haven’t had a win, they believe one is due, so it makes sense to keep going. Conversely, if they are winning, it means a machine is “paying” – and it makes sense to keep going. </p>
<p>The truth is, however, that pokies do not work the same way as the weather or a bus schedule. They are not difficult to predict: they are impossible to predict. </p>
<p>Pokies contain a random number generator, which produces each outcome shown, completely independent of all the games that have come before and all the games that will come after. There is no pattern to follow and a win is never “due”.</p>
<p>Part of the reason for the persistence of the idea that poker machines are eventually “due” to pay is a misunderstanding of the other principle underlying their operation. </p>
<p>As mentioned above, poker machines in Australia are set with an expected return of between 85% and 92%. This is often phrased as “a machine must pay back around 90%”. In most people’s understanding, this leads to the assumption that if $100 has been put in, at some point $90 must come out. </p>
<p>Thus, people assume if they have put a certain amount in a poker machine and got nothing back, a win is somehow due to come. But the real meaning of this percentage is somewhat different. </p>
<p>While there are many different ways of explaining expected value, the simplest way of thinking about it with gambling is that it is referring to the gap between the probability of a win and the pay you get for it. </p>
<p>If a game “pays back” 90%, this means the payback you receive when you win is 90% of what you should get if it was a fair game – that is, one where you would expect to break even in the long term. </p>
<p>It’s like betting $1 on a coin toss, where you have a one-in-two chance of winning, but only get back $1.80 if you get it right. As it is a random game, you might have wins that put you ahead for a short time, but the longer you play the more likely it is that you will lose more than you win back. </p>
<p>So, saying bets on a poker machine have an expected value of 90% doesn’t mean $90 will eventually come out for every $100 put in. It means the game is unfair, and if you keep playing you’ll eventually lose everything.</p>
<h2>Educating gamblers</h2>
<p>These general principles underlie all forms of gambling – be it roulette, lotto, horse racing or sports betting. </p>
<p>What is different about pokies, however, is that their workings are hidden. We can see the ball on the roulette wheel or the horses running around the track, but we cannot see the random number generator inside a poker machine. </p>
<p>Thus, it is understandable why there are more misunderstandings about pokies than other forms of gambling. But we do already <a href="http://www.gamingta.com/pdf/playerinfo.pdf">have the information</a> on how poker machines work for those who care to look.</p>
<p>From this, it could be argued that what is needed to tackle problem gambling in Australia are not leaks of information on how the gambling industry operates, but a focus on education – using the information we already have on how gambling works to correct the understandable misconceptions that exist among gamblers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher John Hunt receives funding from NSW Responsible Gambling Fund. </span></em></p>While it is up for debate as to whether there are questions to be answered about various industry tactics and links to politicians, what isn’t a secret is how poker machines actually work.Christopher John Hunt, Clinical Psychologist, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/642992016-08-24T02:34:07Z2016-08-24T02:34:07ZGambling gallops on, stats reveal – but what can be done to curb its harms?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135237/original/image-20160824-30231-mryeca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sports betting in Australia has been growing rapidly in recent years – all that advertising seems to be paying off.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Julian Smith</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Data <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/">released late last week</a> reveal Australia’s gambling habit is growing as fast as ever. The Australian Gambling Statistics for 2014-15 show adult Australians, on average, lost A$1,242 a year on gambling. </p>
<p>The amount varies dramatically by state: in New South Wales the average loss was $1,518; in Tasmania, $762.</p>
<p>Most gambling expenditure goes on the pokies. Out of a total of $22.7 billion in 2014-15, $11.6 billion (51%) was lost on poker machines in pubs and clubs. </p>
<p>This also varies by state. In NSW, $5.7 billion was spent on such pokies. In Victoria, it was $2.6 billion. In Western Australia, nothing. </p>
<p>Casino gambling (which includes poker machines in casinos) grew by more than 16% in real terms (that is, adjusted for inflation) to $5.2 billion. The biggest chunk of that ($1.9 billion) was in Victoria. NSW placed second, with $1.4 billion in casino losses.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, growth rates in many gambling products have been strong. Sports betting has been growing rapidly in recent years – up to 17% per year to June 2014. </p>
<p>This growth was initially fuelled by a <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/horse-racing/court-ruling-a-spur-for-betfair/2008/03/27/1206207302919.html">High Court</a> decision in 2008 that allowed interstate bookies to operate in states where they didn’t hold a licence. It got a second kick from <a href="https://theconversation.com/tom-waterhouse-takes-the-money-what-now-for-gambling-in-australia-16893">a series of takeovers</a> by big overseas bookies. However, the latest figures show recent growth has eclipsed even the very strong growth rates of earlier years, with real growth of 28.2% to June 2015.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/sport-tom-waterhouse-and-the-gamblification-of-everyday-life-13170">All that advertising</a> seems to be paying off. Australians lost $814.6 million on sports betting last year.</p>
<p>The pokies are still the biggest game in town, however, and by a fair margin. Of the $1,518 lost per head in NSW, $978 (64.8%) went into pokies in pubs or clubs. This is unsurprising, given NSW has around 95,000 poker machines; 70% in clubs. The rest of Australia (bar WA) has to make do with the remaining 100,000.</p>
<h2>Is this growth a problem?</h2>
<p>Pokies are far and away the biggest cause of gambling harm. Around 75% or more of those directly experiencing harm from gambling <a href="http://www.problemgambling.gov.au/facts/">do so because of poker machines</a>. And most people don’t use them. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/information-and-resources/research/recent-research/study-of-gambling-and-health-in-victoria">recent study</a> found only about 16% of adult Victorians use pokies. What that means is the per-capita expenditure of actual users is not an average of $559 per year, but about $3,493. Among that group, a smaller proportion use pokies regularly, and that group sustains losses many times greater than the average. </p>
<p>Gambling harm is becoming more concentrated. A body of evidence now indicates it is <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/16066359.2012.727507">concentrated in highly stressed communities</a>, where disadvantage and poverty are turbo-charged by gambling losses.</p>
<p>The growth in sports betting is, to put it mildly, phenomenal. Most worryingly, a body of research is beginning to demonstrate that <a href="http://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/information-and-resources/research/recent-research/child-and-parent-recall-of-gambling-sponsorship-in-australian-sport">children are highly exposed</a> to gambling ads. This is because voluntary broadcast <a href="http://www.freetv.com.au/media/Code_of_Practice/Free_TV_Commercial_Television_Industry_Code_of_Practice_2015.pdf">advertising rules</a> allow gambling ads during G-rated programming – if it is a sports broadcast. </p>
<p>This loophole defies explanation, other than to acknowledge that gambling ads are now a lucrative source of revenue for broadcasters. Sporting codes get a share via broadcast rights payments, pumped up by the advertising budget of bookies with deep pockets and a desire to grow their market.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>The new parliament offers an opportunity to rein in some of these excesses.</p>
<p>The lowest-hanging fruit is the unrestricted advertising that exposes kids to a regular dose of gambling normalisation. The federal government has complete control of this; it could end it whenever it wants. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-ignores-elephant-in-the-room-in-response-to-online-gambling-review-52751">consumer protection measures</a> promised before the election are a good start, but advertising is the elephant in the room that needs to be tackled.</p>
<p>And the pokies? Substantial political donations and careful support of selected major party politicians <a href="https://theconversation.com/paying-the-piper-and-calling-the-tune-following-clubsnsws-political-donations-60639">have worked wonders</a> for the pokie lobby since 2010, when the Gillard-Wilkie agreement threatened their rivers of gold. But the concerns of crossbench MPs like Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie are unabated.</p>
<p>Again, the federal government has clear power to act. Xenophon and Wilkie have <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-19/xenophon,-wilkie-to-take-pokies-fight-to-marginal-seats/7642218">made it clear</a> they expect gambling reform to be front and centre in the new parliament. </p>
<p>These latest figures throw fuel on the fire of their concern. Gambling harm is a major source of harm to the health and well-being of the community. It’s right up there with major depression, <a href="http://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/information-and-resources/research/recent-research/assessing-gambling-related-harm-in-victoria-a-public-health-perspective">for example</a>. State taxes are one thing; wholesale attacks on the health and well-being of the community are another thing entirely.</p>
<p>Whatever the new parliament holds, gambling reform seems certain to be part of the mix.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64299/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from Victorian and South Australian government agencies (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Centre, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens and of the Alliance for Gambling Reform. </span></em></p>Gambling losses in Australia are now close to $23 billion. What’s driving this? And do we need to reform gambling regulation?Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/606392016-06-24T23:28:24Z2016-06-24T23:28:24ZPaying the piper and calling the tune? Following ClubsNSW’s political donations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127054/original/image-20160617-11101-1mr4ssl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Former NSW premier Barry O'Farrell struck a deal with ClubsNSW while in opposition.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Himbrechts</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Part of the reason why the poker-machine lobby is successful in defeating any attempt to contain it is its capacity to give big money to political parties. It can also outspend most lobbyists on public campaigns.</p>
<p>We have identified 31 individual politicians or specific re-election campaigns from both sides of politics receiving ClubsNSW donations. These are the donations <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=48&ClientId=16043">we can track</a>; currently, donations of less than A$13,000 <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-does-our-political-donations-system-work-and-is-it-any-good-60159">do not need</a> to be publicly disclosed.</p>
<p>There is no suggestion the donations directly influence MPs’ decision-making. But while such donations don’t determine decisions they do, presumably, allow ClubsNSW to gain access to policymakers. </p>
<p>What’s also apparent is politicians hear the voice of ClubsNSW and other pokie operators loud and clear. Those seeking to reform poker-machine and other gambling regulations would argue this is to the detriment of good policy, and harmful to the well-being of those affected by gambling harm.</p>
<h2>Carrot-and-stick campaigning</h2>
<p>In October 2010, New South Wales’ then-opposition leader Barry O’Farrell <a href="http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac;jsessionid=3D1D98B49789B59B0E460BF1B4B74CBE?sy=afr&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=1month&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=10&rm=200&sp=brs&cls=3&clsPage=1&docID=SHD120520F61H12ISQK5">signed a “memorandum of understanding”</a> with ClubsNSW. This provided a raft of benefits for the clubs if he was elected, including a $300 million tax break and limits to competition.</p>
<p>Two months before O’Farrell and his gaming spokesman George Souris signed the deal, Julia Gillard began to stitch up a deal of her own with various crossbenchers to become prime minister. One independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, undertook to support Labor <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2010/s3001404.htm">on the basis</a> that it would introduce a system of pokie pre-commitment.</p>
<p>Half of Australia’s 200,000 pokies are in NSW; 70% of those are in clubs. Pokies make their operators a fortune – <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/index.php">more than $11 billion per year</a>, as of 2013-14, with about $5.4 billion of that in NSW.</p>
<p>It’s no surprise, then, ClubsNSW went to war over the Wilkie-Gillard reforms. If they were effective, they would strip out a substantial chunk of the pokie revenue – maybe as much as the 42% of pokie losses estimated to <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/gambling-2009/report/gambling-report-volume1.pdf">come from problem gamblers</a>. With some clubs in NSW getting 80% or more of their revenue from pokies, any serious harm-minimisation measures would push them to the edge.</p>
<p>What the clubs did was textbook political campaigning. It involved both a carrot and a stick. </p>
<p>The carrot? Political donations to the major parties, and in particular to selected politicians from within the major parties. </p>
<p>The stick? A <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/the-lobby-group-that-got-much-more-bang-for-its-buck/">highly effective</a> marginal seats campaign, coupled with broadcast advertising and local campaigns targeting specific politicians proposing gambling reform.</p>
<p>The result was a very nervous Labor backbench, <a href="http://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/935470/labor-mps-revolt-over-pokies-deal/">particularly in NSW</a>. Kevin Rudd capitalised on this, promising to ditch the reforms <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/12996948/clubs-confirm-pokie-reforms-meeting/">if re-elected as leader</a>. In the end, Gillard gave in, abandoning the deal with Wilkie and overcoming her government’s dependency on his support by appointing Liberal defector Peter Slipper <a href="http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac;jsessionid=3D1D98B49789B59B0E460BF1B4B74CBE?sy=afr&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=1month&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=10&rm=200&sp=brs&cls=3&clsPage=1&docID=SHD120520F61H12ISQK5">as speaker</a>. </p>
<p>If that was the solution, the problem Gillard faced must have been wicked indeed.</p>
<h2>Money, money, money</h2>
<p>A search of the Australian Electoral Commission political donor records reveals that between July 1999 and June 2015, ClubsNSW declared political donations <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=56&ClientId=16043">worth $2,569,181</a>. Almost all of this money went to either the ALP ($886,505) or the Coalition parties ($1,682,676). </p>
<p>Other funds went to entities linked to the parties, including a <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=51&ClientId=16043">$29,600 donation</a> to the Liberal Party-linked Millennium Forum in 2012-13. This was just before the body was drawn to the public’s attention in unhappy circumstances before <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-liberals-launch-fundraising-body-to-replace-discredited-millennium-forum-20140725-zwppv.html">NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption</a>.</p>
<p>For its campaign against the Wilkie-Gillard reforms, ClubsNSW allied with casinos, the Australian Hotels Association, and major players such as the Woolworths subsidiary, pokie operators ALH Ltd. It declared additional expenditure of $3,478,581 for this during <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/PoliticalExpenditure.aspx?SubmissionId=48&ClientId=16043">2010-11</a> and <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/PoliticalExpenditure.aspx?SubmissionId=49&ClientId=16043">2011-12</a>. Of that, $2,989,600 was for broadcasting expenses.</p>
<p>Another $490,624 was spent on polling and electoral research – some of which may well have found its way <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/gambling-and-alcohol-money-to-target-antipokies-senator-nick-xenophon-greens-20160604-gpbjl5.html">into party-political hands</a>.</p>
<p>Lobbying politicians effectively may sometimes require exchanges of ideas and, clearly, the exchange of funds. Until 2010, ClubsNSW donated only to Labor and Coalition party coffers directly. After that period, donations began to flow regularly to individual politicians and their campaigns.</p>
<p>A number of individual politicians, or their re-election campaigns, were substantial beneficiaries of ClubsNSW’s largesse after 2010. These included the Coalition’s <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=55&ClientId=16043">Craig Laundy</a> ($20,000), <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=51&ClientId=16043">Craig Kelly</a> ($6,500), <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=51&ClientId=16043">Bob Baldwin</a> ($4,000), and <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=51&ClientId=16043">Luke Hartsuyker</a> ($3,000). On the Labor side, the recipients included <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=55&ClientId=16043">Joel Fitzgibbon</a> ($8,500), <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=48&ClientId=16043">Jason Clare</a> ($9,250), <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=51&ClientId=16043">Chris Bowen</a> ($3,700) and <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=51&ClientId=16043">Mike Kelly</a> ($3,000).</p>
<p>And a donation of $50,000 <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=49&ClientId=16043">went directly</a> to a Gold Coast PO box, naming then-Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane, in 2011-12.</p>
<p>Liberal MP Kevin Andrews received $40,000 in donations for his Menzies campaign account up until 2014-15. <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=55&ClientId=16043">Two of these donations</a>, for $20,000 and $10,000, were originally earmarked as being for the Liberal Party’s Victorian division. However, they were, in fact, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/follow-the-money-clubs-nsw-donated-to-kevin-andrews-victorianbased-menzies-200-club-20150726-gikryw.html">intended for Andrews’ campaign</a>.</p>
<p>Clubs NSW donated a <a href="http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Donor.aspx?SubmissionId=56&ClientId=16043">further $10,000</a> to Andrews’ campaign in 2014-15.</p>
<p>Andrews was a frontbencher with responsibility for gambling policy in the lead-up to the 2013 election. He opposed the regulation of poker machines, and was supported strongly by ClubsNSW <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/video/video-news/video-national-news/clubs-nsw-paid-20000-to-support-kevin-andrews-20150727-3zyr6">in the election campaign</a>.</p>
<p>Andrews became social services minister and was responsible for gambling once the Abbott government was elected. He repealed the Gillard government’s very modest gambling reforms <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2013/November/Gambling_reforms_to_be_wound_back">in November 2013</a>, just two months after winning government.</p>
<h2>Toward reform</h2>
<p>It seems there is a coterie of politicians on both sides who are trusted, or at any rate supported by, the pokies lobby. Whether they are agents of influence, intelligence conduits, neither, or both, we do not know. </p>
<p>What is clear is that gambling reform has been stymied by powerful vested interests. This has been facilitated – in fact, made possible – by very poor political donation disclosure laws. </p>
<p>If we are to have anything like a timely window into who is giving money to our politicians, and perhaps buying influence with them, reform of this system is urgently needed.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="http://theconversation.com/is-there-any-hope-for-gambling-reform-in-a-new-parliament-60638">Is there any hope for gambling reform in a new parliament?</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from Victorian and South Australian governments (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Centre, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens and of the Alliance for Gambling Reform. He submitted to the O'Farrell review and met with Mr O'Farrell during the course of his review. The research reported in this article was funded by the Alliance for Gambling Reform.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Johnson is a recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) funded by the Australian government. </span></em></p>There is a coterie of politicians on both sides who are trusted, or at any rate supported by, the pokies lobby.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityMaggie Johnson, PhD Student, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.