Over 50% of the adults in the state of New South Wales (NSW) gambled at least once in 2018, even though participation rates across most forms of gambling has registered a significant decline since 2011. According to a recent report, however, the prevalence of problem gambling has held a steady ground in comparison to the rates registered eight years ago. Currently, one in ten regular gamblers is classified as a problem gambler.
The release of the report is made after last week the NSW government revealed that local gamblers lost over AU$6.5 billion on poker machines in the state in the period from July 2018 and May 20189. The figure represented a significant AU$162-million surge in NSW gambler’ losses in comparison the ones generated in 2017/18.
The aforementioned findings are part of the NSW Gambling Survey 2019 that has been the most comprehensive survey of this kind since 2011. As part of the survey, more than 10,000 telephone interviews with residents of NSW were held in the period from November 2018 to February 2019.
As revealed by the research, 53% of the survey participants have gambled at least once over the previous 12 months. According to the results of the survey, the most popular form of gambling were lottery tickets (37%), followed by poker machines, also known as pokies (16%). Greyhound and horse betting were third in popularity (13%). As mentioned above, the report showed a considerable decline in gambling participation rates since 2011, when about 65% of the survey respondents said they had participated in no less than one form of gambling over the last 12 months.
Gambling Addicts Account for 1% of NSW Population, Survey Found
It was only last week when the Government of New South Wales unveiled legislation aimed at imposing stricter measures on illegal inducements that are set to attract people into opening accounts with online gambling operators or placing bets more frequently.
Victor Dominello, the Customer Service Minister, revealed that an amount of AU$35 million is being spent in the NSW Government in 2019/20 on programs which are set to help individuals who are exposed at risk of becoming problem gamblers. Mr Dominello further noted that the new survey provided unique knowledge into the gambling landscape in NSW so that the competent authorities are able to make a better policy on how to deal with spreading problem gambling rates.
The proposed piece of legislation has been welcomed by anti-gambling campaigners who have called for the authorities to unveil a similar ban on the poker machines industry.
An interesting trend that was highlighted in the report is the fact that gambling participation has decreased but online gambling has become more popular among the residents of New South Wales. According to the information revealed in the report, the number of gamblers who placed sports bets online doubled over the past eight years, from 35% in 2011 to 70% in 2019.
The report found that gambling addicts accounted for 1% of the total population of the state of NSW. At the same time, they generated more than one-third of the overall gambling expenditure which the interviewed NSW residents reported.
According to Justin Field, an independent NSW Member of Parliament, the fact that fewer people are gambling is not enough for the regulators to believe that local residents are well-protected against possible gambling-related harm, nor it brings any comfort to the people affected by gambling addiction and their families. He further noted that the strategies unveiled by the NSW Government to reduce gambling harm were failing.
- Author
Daniel Williams
