Young Australians most at risk of gambling harm: gov't report-Xinhua
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CANBERRA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Australians aged 18-34 are at higher risk of serious harm from gambling than any other age group, a government survey has found.
The Australian Gambling Research Center at the federal government agency, the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) on Thursday published the latest edition of its National Gambling Trends Study.
It found that regular slot machine gamblers aged 18-34 spent an average of 1,453 Australian dollars (914 U.S. dollars) a month on all forms of gambling and that 89 percent met the criteria for at-risk gambling, meaning they spend more than they can afford or feel guilty and stressed about their gambling.
Regular online gamblers in the same age group spent an average of 886 Australian dollars (558 U.S. dollars) every month on all forms of gambling and 82 percent met the criteria for at-risk gambling.
Of all regular online gamblers who participated in the survey, 27 percent said they used credit cards to gamble, 13 percent admitted to using unregulated offshore gambling services in the past 12 months and less than 7 percent sought help for gambling addiction.
Rae Kaspiew, a research director at the AIFS, used the findings to advocate for urgent measures to reduce gambling harms, including reducing the operating hours for venues with slot machines, banning credit card use for online gamblers and introducing a register for online gamblers to exclude themselves from signing up for new accounts.
"Our research indicates that measures to reduce gambling harms are much needed - and we hope this latest report on the impact of gambling on regular pokies and online gamblers will inform and accelerate efforts to curb this insidious problem," she said in a media release.
The parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs in June published a report recommending that Australia should ban advertising for online gambling across all media at all times within three years.
The Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland are at the time committed to considering the report and are still formulating a final decision on whether its 31 recommendations will be adopted in full. ■
