Australia's Gambling Industries - Productivity Commission

For a subset of 856 clients in 1996-97, information was also collected on the
primary reason for a client attending a problem gambling counselling agency. It was
found that:
• around 5 per cent of clients reported legal issues as the primary reason for
attending counselling for gambling problems (Jackson et al. 1997, p. 22).
An analysis of new problem gambler clients of the 18 Victorian Break Even
agencies in 1997-98 (Jackson et al. 1999b) yielded the following findings:
• around 20 per cent of clients admitted to having ever committed illegal acts
which were associated with their gambling; and
• 10.5 per cent of problem gamblers revealed illegal actions to be a current source
of funding for their gambling.
The Australian Vietnamese Women’s Welfare Association Inc. (sub. 86) reported
on characteristics of clients who presented at a problem gambling counselling
service for Vietnamese gamblers in the western region of Melbourne. In the twelve
month period to November 1998, the service provided assistance to 30 people
(18 males and 12 females) with gambling related difficulties. Of these clients who
sought help:
• 50 per cent were involved with the courts (they had either been ordered by a
Magistrate’s Court to undergo counselling or were about to appear in court
because of their gambling or gambling-related activities);
• 27 per cent were involved in stealing casino chips, cheating at casino games,
stealing or shoplifting; and
• 17 per cent were involved with inappropriate money-lending schemes.
One of the Queensland Break Even centres (Gold Coast) provided information on
443 clients who presented for counselling during the five and a half year period
1 May 1993 to 31 October 1998 (sub. 62). An assessment of these clients in terms of
the DSM-IV criteria for ‘pathological’ gambling revealed that:
• around 53 per cent reported they had committed illegal acts to finance their
gambling.
Further information on the prevalence of illegal activities among problem gamblers
in Queensland is available for samples of new clients attending the five Break Even
Centres in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Townsville. A
breakdown by gender of the proportion of clients reporting adverse legal effects as a
result of gambling revealed that (Boreham et al. 1995):
H.4 GAMBLING