Stop Predatory Gambling

One of the most revealing reports about the predatory gambling trade you will ever read

by spgadmin

Jim Rubens, leader of New Hampshire’s No Slots effort, distributed an excellent email summary of a must-read report released October 21.

Here’s an excerpt from his email:

Video slot machines became pervasive across almost the entire Australian nation by 1995. In both 1999 and again in 2008, the Australian government charged its Productivity Commission with assessing benefits and harms of gambling. On October 21, the Commission released its 630 page draft report.

“The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government’s independent research and advisory body on a range of economic, social and environmental issues affecting the welfare of Australians. Its role, expressed most simply, is to help governments make better policies, in the long term interest of the Australian community.”

The Productivity Commission found gambling to cost Australian society about $4.5 billion dollars per year, with over 75 percent of these costs deriving from video slot machines. These costs exceed benefits when abused dollars (or “excess” losses) by problem gamblers are included (page 3.22). Cost per year per adult translates to US$225 for all adults in the population.

Video slot machines, rather than other forms of gambling such as lottery or table games, “account for around 75-80 per cent of ‘problem gamblers’ and are found to pose significant problems for ordinary consumers.” (xxiii)

42 to 75 percent of total machine losses are paid by moderate and high risk problem gamblers. (4.1)

“[A]round 50 per cent of machine gamblers have false beliefs about how gambliing machines work, which pose risks to them” (4.1). “Faulty cognition” about slot machine design is strongly associated with problem gambling. 33 percent of high-risk problem gamblers, 20 percent of moderate risk, and 5 percent of recreational gamblers believe that a gambler is more likely to win on a slot machine after loosing many times in a row (4.11).  Some groups of consumers – such as people with intellectual or mental health disabilities, poor English skills, and those who are emotionally fragile (say due to grief) – may be particularly vulnerable to problems when gambling (3.9). Slot machine profits and tax proceeds therefrom are predatory on weak and vulnerable members of the population.

The effect of widespread gambling machine availability on the economy can be seen in Australia, where gambling losses are now 3.1 percent of household consumption, 6.3 percent in Northern Australia (page 2.3).

The potential for significant harm from some types of gambling is what distinguishes gambling from most other enjoyable recreational activities – and underlines the communities’ ambivalence towards it” (xx). “While many Australians gamble, they remain sceptical about the overall community benefits (figure 3.2). For instance, one survey estimated that around 80 per cent of Victorian adults considered that gambling had done more harm than good (with little difference between the views of gamblers and non-gamblers)” (3.8). Looking at all Australian surveys, roughly 80 percent of the public wants to see video slot machines removed or their numbers reduced (10.9).

Eight to 15 percent of Australian problem gamblers seek treatment. “Internationally, around 6-15 per cent of people experiencing problems with gambling are reported to seek help from problem gambling services” (5.3). “People experiencing problems with their gambling often do not seek professional help until a ‘crisis’ occurs – financial ruin, relationship break down, court charges or attempted suicide – or when they hit ‘rock bottom’. (5.4)