PRESS RELEASE- Online gaming the fastest growing form of gambling in Australia
PRESS RELEASE
Online gaming the fastest growing form of gambling in Australia
TONY EASTLEY: While Australian politicians are debating how to minimise the harm done by poker machines, researchers are warning that sports betting and online casino games are the fastest growing form of gambling in Australia, and could become a serious problem in the future.
The biggest study of online gambling habits in Australia has found problem gamblers are losing an average of $825 a month.
Suzanne Hill reports.
SUZANNE HILL: Researchers from Southern Cross University’s Centre for Gambling Education and Research surveyed 6,500 online gamblers, and found that half of them started playing online in the past six years.
Lead researcher Dr Sally Gainsbury says that means Australians are taking up online punting and gaming faster than any other form of gambling.
It’s estimated Australians now spend $600 million a year on online gambling.
Sixteen per cent of the participants in the study were deemed to be problem gamblers and Dr Gainsbury said many of them admit the comfort of playing from home can be particularly addictive.
SALLY GAINSBURY: Internet gambling actually does offer unique risks compared to other forms of gambling. So because it’s available all the time, it’s private and you can gamble without anyone really finding out, people are saying that – half the internet gamblers, problem internet gamblers said that it disrupted their sleep and around a third reported it disrupted their eating.
So that constant availability is really disrupting people’s normal functions.
SUZANNE HILL: She says the amount of problem gamblers online is only likely to grow.
SALLY GAINSBURY: Absolutely, internet gambling, one of the most important things is that these people are at risk because it’s so easy to do. It’s actually happening to a new population, so you’re getting more people gambling. It means that there are going to be a greater number of people reporting problems relating to internet gambling in the future.
SUZANNE HILL: Dr Gainsbury is calling on the Government to look into more regulation for the online gambling industry, something she says should be easy to do.
SALLY GAINSBURY: Similar to the efforts put into making sure that the pokies are played in as safe a way as possible, there needs to be more responsible gambling strategies for online. So we should be seeing pop up messages telling people how long they’ve been playing for and how much they’ve been spending.
These type of things are actually much easier to do with online because you can track an individual player. People are using accounts, they’re not putting cash in, so we can tell how much individual players are spending.
TONY EASTLEY: Dr Sally Gainsbury from Southern Cross University ending that report from Suzanne Hill.
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