A study carried out by the researchers from the George Institute in Australia shows that many Aussies tend to underestimate the harm that can be caused by games like bingo, scratch cards or lotteries. Most Australians consider activities like buying lottery tickets, scratchies or visiting a bingo hall as normal forms of fun. What they fail to grasp, however, is that such gambling products can often lead to very serious issues, especially among vulnerable individuals.
Aussies Fail to Recognise the Harm of Popular Forms of Betting
The study was conducted with the help of more than 2,000 participants who were asked questions about nine popular gambling products. Most Aussies consider pokies as the product that causes the biggest harm, followed by casino table games, horse/dog race betting, and sports betting. The remaining products, however, were considered harmful only by about 24% to 35% of the participants in the study.
According to the study, a small part of Aussies consider scratchies, lottery tickets or bingo as harmful. In reality, these are among the top ten gambling products that can often cause harm to vulnerable individuals.
Even though such games are deemed harmless, the study shows that scratch cards and bingo can cause more harm than private betting, keno, horse/dog race betting, and even lottery. This being said, the Aussies who took part in the study were correct about placing pokies, table games, and sports betting as the most harmful gambling products. Despite that, many believe that horse/dog race betting is more dangerous than it actually is.
Younger Aussies and Females Are More Likely to Deem Casino Products as Harmful
The study shows that two of the main factors that help Aussies to determine the harm of every form of gambling are higher PGSI (Problem Gambling Severity Index) scores and less frequent gambling participation. The results from the research also show that younger people, females as well as individuals of higher socioeconomic status are more likely to deem certain gambling products as harmful.
Games like bingo, keno, scratchies, private betting, and the lottery were mainly determined as harmful by younger participants in the study. Meanwhile, females are more often the participants who have defined casino table games, pokies, sports betting, and horse/dog race betting as harmful.
Among the Aussies who participated in the study, those of a higher socioeconomic status deemed scratch tickets, horse/dog race betting, casino table games, and sports betting as dangerous for vulnerable individuals.
Dr Leon Booth, the lead author of the study, explains that Aussies are among the biggest gambling spenders in the world and the rates have gone even higher during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to him, the public should be more aware of the harm of different gambling products and there should be new measures to minimize the risk levels for vulnerable Australian gamblers.
- Author
Daniel Williams
