Page 5564 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 November 2010
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Mr Smyth said that we need more evidence before we can move forward; we need to have more studies; there is this latest ANU study. My view is that we do have a lot of research and information out there. I would be surprised if this latest research was vastly different from what we have seen from the Productivity Commission’s research. Earlier this month Gambling Research Australia, the national body established by the Ministerial Council on Gambling, released the Children at risk of developing problem gambling research report.
This is the first report to examine the risks and factors involved in transmission of problem gambling within a family. It is a very comprehensive 228-page report which found that family attitudes and behaviours have a significant impact on the risk that a child will develop future problems with gambling. It found that people with a family history of problem gambling were between 2.3 and 9.6 times more likely to display problem gambling behaviour than those that did not have that exposure. The study also found that people who had parents with gambling problems were between 6.7 and 13.5 times more likely to display problem gambling behaviour. The overall conclusion reached from those undertaking this research was that the magnitude of risk associated with a family member gambling for the development of child gambling problems is substantial enough to warrant clinical and policy responses.
I just reflect on Mr Rattenbury’s comments on ACTCOSS’s submission around the profile of problem gamblers here in the ACT and the higher percentage of young gamblers that we have here—young problem gamblers. Having worked in the youth sector over many years I know that that was on the rise when I was heading up the Youth Coalition of the ACT and was starting to cause considerable concern among organisations and youth workers.
This is new research, along with that carried out by the Productivity Commission through its 1999 and 2010 reviews. The information supplied to these reviews by Lifeline Canberra and the ACT Council of Social Services cannot be ignored and does require us in this Assembly to deliver policy responses. To deliver just under $70 per year to our problem gamblers and their families is certainly not the answer.
There is more, and this is perhaps more of a concern than some of the other research that has been carried out. In February 2008, the problem gambling research and treatment centre, which is a joint initiative of the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Victorian government, released a report for the beyondblue foundation on the risk and protective factors, depression and co-morbidities in problem gambling.
The report found that 35.7 per cent of problem gamblers have a severe mental disorder; the rate of likely hazardous alcohol use as measured in the problem gambler groups was 50 per cent; the rate of being categorised as being at risk of depression in the problem gambler group was 71.4 per cent; and the rate of being categorised as a daily smoker in the problem gambler group was 57.1 per cent. The conclusion reached in this report was that problem gamblers have a high rate of significant psychological and behavioural problems. It was evident that problem gamblers need treatment for not only their gambling but also a range of other problems.
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