Recently, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) published the results of a study, according to which problem gambling behaviour can deteriorate cases of intimate partner violence (IPV).
A revealed by the organisation, the study that was headed by the Central Queensland University’s professor Nerilee Hing involved 116 interviews with women who experienced violence that was linked to their own gambling habits, women who experienced violence associated with their male partner’s gambling habits, men who had used gambling-related violence against a female partner of theirs, as well as with providers of family and domestic violence services, financial counselling providers, gambling help providers, etc.
As professor Hing explained, gambling was found to reinforce the gendered drivers of violence. As she revealed, problem gambling behaviour could greatly intensify both the severity and frequency of intimate partner violence at times when gender roles are considered to be fixed.
The study found that gambling may not be the direct cause for intimate partner violence, but it boosts the gender drivers of violence when it comes to violence faced by women. Furthermore, the recent research emphasised on the prevalence of economic abuse experienced by women facing intimate partner violence associated with gambling. It also identified that gambling establishments often serve as safe spaces for women, who in some cases have very few alternatives to change that.
Some Women Find Gambling Parlours as Safe Places to Escape from Domestic Violence
Many of the women, who took part in the study, revealed that problem gambling has been among the main reasons why the violent behaviour of a male partner of theirs, who had already abused them, became even worse.
As mentioned above, the relationship between gambling addiction and economic abuse was also highlighted by the survey. The respondents’ answers showed that while they have been trying to find a way out of a deteriorating problem gambling behaviour, men did whatever possible to prevent their female partners from accessing money by making the decisions how household money is spent. Furthermore, abusive male partners were also found to have used force or threats to persuade their partners to provide money to fund their gambling habits.
The survey respondents also suggested that intimate partner violence could create a predisposition of a person developing gambling problems. According to the results, women experiencing violence from their intimate partner often used gambling as a way to both emotionally and physically escape the abuse, with gambling parlours becoming the only safe places such women could go to.
As revealed by the research held by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, some service providers and the wider community are usually unaware of the link between intimate partner violence and gambling. On the other hand, when it comes to screening, service delivery, or integrated service responses for IPV and problem gambling, both were found to be limited. The study also found that gambling-related harm, including economic abuse, is currently enabled in financial institutions and gambling operators’ existing protocols.
Unfortunately, the research found that the majority of gambling companies have widely ignored their customers’ problem gambling behaviour, including customers gambling on a daily basis, spending all their wages, making an enormous number of ATM withdrawals in a single gambling session or gambling large sums.
- Author
Daniel Williams
