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UnitingCare Australia Media Release
22 October 2009
UnitingCare Australia has welcomed the Draft Report on the Inquiry into Gambling released today by the Productivity Commission. This Inquiry follows up on the seminal research on gambling by the Commission in 1999. It provides a review of the gambling industry, sets out the community impacts, and provides clear advice on how to significantly reduce the pain of gambling being felt by individuals, families and communities.
UnitingCare Australia made a submission to this inquiry, on behalf of the Uniting Care network of services that work with problem gamblers. These services include gambling support services and support for individuals and families dealing with the impacts of problem gambling via Financial Counselling, Emergency Relief, Family, Relationship and Housing Support services.
UnitingCare Australia National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds said, “Once again the Commission has produced a well researched and thorough investigation of this critical social issue that affects a large number of people in the community. The Commission has found that about 15% of Australian adults gamble regularly and that about 30% of these people are either problem gamblers or at ‘moderate risk’ of problem gambling.”
“The Productivity Commission has addressed the priority issues that were raised by UnitingCare Australia in its submission, and which were noted by many other community advocates. Of particular importance are:
• Strengthening services for problem gamblers, self-help tools, pre-commitment and exclusion systems;
• Strengthening gaming machine standards and making these consistent across jurisdictions;
• Introducing a shutdown period for gaming machines in all hotels and clubs that starts earlier and is of longer duration; and
• Placing greater emphasis on education and harm reduction campaigns that highlight potential future losses, make the community aware of behaviours indicative of problem gambling and encourage earlier help seeking.”
“We are asking the Commission to focus more in its final report on emerging forms of gambling activities that are high risk for problem gambling, particularly on-line gambling and sports betting.”
Ms Hatfield Dodds noted, “The Commission has suggested that even a 10% sustained reduction in gambling harm could provide a gain to society of nearly half a billion dollars annually, and several billion in the longer term, let alone the benefits for individuals and families impacted by problem gambling.”
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You can download the pdf version of the media release here. |
