Australia's Gambling Industries - Productivity Commission

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Cultural beliefs prevent ethnic groups reporting crime. Asians have a different view of the police to some other groups in the community. Furthermore, much of the crime that is committed by problem gamblers against family members is never reported (box H.1). Box H.1 Participants’ views on under-reporting of crimes Family members, friends and employers are the most frequent victims. These people are reluctant to report the criminal activity, and will often ‘bail out’ the problem gambler by advancing funds to pay creditors where criminal charges are threatened (Wesley Community Legal Service, sub. 46, p. 13). We believe that the incidence of gambling related crime is under reported: very few families will lay charges against another member of their family and many employers are also reluctant to press charges (Relationships Australia (South Australia), sub. 118, p. 12). Crimes committed against family and friends included stealing and pawning goods and selling family assets without consent. [But because] ... family members rarely choose to prosecute, many of the crimes and their impact on the family and the economy go unnoticed (Break Even– Gold Coast, sub. 73, pp. 3-4). In the counselling work we undertake we are seeing clear evidence of white-collar crime, both large and small, being used to finance gambling activities. A large proportion of this theft occurs from family members and significant others. It is not reported, but it is crime nonetheless (Adelaide Central Mission, sub. 108, p. 19). Hence, crime report rates understate by a substantial margin the number of offences that are actually committed. Are motives for offences always revealed to courts? Only limited information was provided to the inquiry on the extent to which police/court statistics reveal any changes in gambling related crime over time, and particularly whether there is any relationship with the increased availability of gambling opportunities. The Australian Hotels and Hospitality Association was sceptical of any such relationship: ... newspaper reports have highlighted an increase in reporting of gambling habits as a motive for crime in the magistrate’s court. However, there are no studies showing an increase in overall criminal activity since the introduction of gaming machines (sub. 154, p. 34). PROBLEM GAMBLING AND CRIME H.19
But as noted above, police statistics understate gambling related crime rates because many offences go unreported, and many crimes that are committed for gambling related reasons are not recorded as such. Jelena Popovic, Deputy Chief Magistrate in Victoria, has summarised recent experience in that State as follows: My premise after very much thought and discussion with my colleagues around the State is that there has not been a crime wave in the Magistrate’s Court brought about by the liberalisation of the gambling laws. The increase in crime directly attributable to gambling has been marginal. ... The view from the Bench is that gambling is a major problem in the community but is largely hidden from the Courts (1998, pp. 1, 9). There appear to be offsetting influences at work which confound the extent to which crimes that come before the courts are identified as gambling related. On the one hand, it is held that there is an increasing tendency for some offenders to claim the defence of ‘gambling addiction’ as a mitigating factor in the hope of securing a more lenient sentence. The Australian Institute of Criminality stated that: There may well be persons who, having committed a criminal act but not suffering any disability, may invoke problem gambling as an excuse. Whilst some criminal activity no doubt does arise from problem gambling, it may be unwise to accept defences without some form of verification (sub. 21, p. 1). On the same theme, ACIL commented that: We have been told that already in Melbourne accused thieves have been offering problem gambling (or as it is termed locally, the ‘Crown defence’) as an excuse for their actions, although to date the courts have not accepted such claims as a reason for leniency (sub. 155, p. 113). Wesley Community Legal Service reported that the official position in NSW Courts is that problem gamblers will not be afforded any special leniency — pathological gambling is not a ‘special circumstance’ which will allow the Courts to impose a ‘non-custodial’ sentence or reduce the minimum term (sub. D215, p. 5). However, Wesley Community Legal Service also reported that there appears to be more flexibility in the Local Court for non-custodial sentenced to be imposed. But on the other hand, there are also some offenders who suffer from a gambling problem who apparently do not disclose this to the courts as a reason for the offence. As Popovic noted, a number of magistrates in Victorian districts from whom she canvassed opinions believed that: ... gambling was a large social problem in their area, but ... defendants were ashamed to disclose their gambling to the court, or ... somehow the fact of their gambling remained undisclosed to the court (1998, p. 2). H.20 GAMBLING
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Australia’s Gambling Industries I
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Contents of other volumes Volume 1
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Australian Capital Territory Federa
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Tasmania Wrest Point Casino New Zea
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Marianne James Prof Jan McMillen Pe
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Canberra, 30 November 1998 Senator
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Sydney, 16-17 September 1999 Rev Fr
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N Ward 28 Evelyn Jago 29 Territory
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Australian Hotels Association (SA)
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Women’s Health West 176 Norfolk I
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BetSafe Group - Paul Symond Consult
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B Participation in gambling: data t
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Table B.2 Participation in gambling
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Table B.4 Participation in gambling
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product in excess of the price paid
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C.2 Consumer surplus in the gamblin
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from increased consumption resultin
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Figure C.2 Tax and consumer surplus
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Table C.3 Price elasticities of dem
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Figure C.3 Consumer surplus for pro
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Box C.1 continued (e) That part of
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Table C.4 continued Wagering Lotter
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s n = share of gambling expenditure
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Figure C.6 Demand for gambling by p
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• the triangular area ’g’ whi
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The Commission’s treatment falls
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Box C.4 Explaining the lack of vari
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demand may become elastic, as peopl
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There are a number possible explana
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• Firstly, there has been extraor
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E Gambling in indigenous communitie
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The pattern of institutionally-base
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chase the “miracles” offered by
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F National Gambling Survey F.1 Intr
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F.2 The questionnaire Development o
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The use of this sampling approach m
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Box F.1 List of gambling activities
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• Big spending regular or less fr
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Questions asked of all respondents
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Comparisons of aggregate expenditur
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elated to their gambling — all
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Interview duration As with any ques
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ecause of non-payment), while there
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• post-weighting the sample data
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particular area/age/gender cell fro
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esult in turn reflects the survey p
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F.11 Contact and participation rate
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Being aware of the need to minimise
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NATIONAL GAMBLING SURVEY F.31
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F.52 GAMBLING
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F.54 GAMBLING
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F.56 GAMBLING
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F.58 GAMBLING
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Page 135 and 136: G Survey of Clients of Counselling
Page 137 and 138: G.3 Question by question A1 to A3
Page 139 and 140: D23 — is concerned with the mecha
Page 141 and 142: of problem gambling (eg how many ch
Page 143 and 144: CLIENT SURVEY G.9
Page 161 and 162: Problem gamblers may subsequently b
Page 163 and 164: For a subset of 856 clients in 1996
Page 165 and 166: Table H.3 Variable Logistic estimat
Page 167 and 168: Prison, South Australia’s main re
Page 169 and 170: • “Has your gambling ever led y
Page 171 and 172: elicit information on vocational, f
Page 173 and 174: This finding is consistent with the
Page 175 and 176: H.5 What crimes do problem gamblers
Page 177: Other more violent crimes such as b
Page 181 and 182: H.8 Problem gambling and loan shark
Page 183 and 184: epayments were required — but mos
Page 185 and 186: State Gaming Authorities data The s
Page 187 and 188: Table I.2 Unweighted estimation Med
Page 189 and 190: machines. There is no statistically
Page 191 and 192: Figure I.2 Expenditure on gaming ma
Page 193 and 194: Weighted results The Commission’s
Page 195 and 196: Table I.7 Summary of Victorian metr
Page 197 and 198: Table I.9 Summary of Queensland reg
Page 199 and 200: it is likely to represent the more
Page 201 and 202: Table J.1 presents the information
Page 203 and 204: suffer from some of the adverse con
Page 205 and 206: • costs of gambling counselling s
Page 207 and 208: To the extent that borrowed money i
Page 209 and 210: This fee is only taken in estates w
Page 211 and 212: • for a higher estimate, the numb
Page 213 and 214: The Commission has assumed that the
Page 215 and 216: • to estimate the income lost ove
Page 217 and 218: the Commission has used this estima
Page 219 and 220: • 336 people receiving a jail sen
Page 221 and 222: states offer up to $50 000 each for
Page 223 and 224: As indicated in table J.6, where pr
Page 225 and 226: seen as part of the informal contra
Page 227 and 228: Almost all divorce cases are uncont
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of their gambling during the period
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Suicide ideation The Commission’s
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Table J.10 continued People a Per p
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Table J.12 Value of annual transfer
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pathological and problem gamblers a
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Table K.2 Summary of cost estimates
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L Survey of Counselling Services Th
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Several academics working in the ar
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L.4 Survey results Nature of agenci
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Number of clients The survey includ
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Characteristics of gambling clients
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counselling because of someone else
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Table L.17 Full time equivalent pai
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Table L.20 Approaches used to help
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Table L.24 Gambling clients ending
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More specifically, agencies said fu
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Centacare (Whyalla) Centre for Anxi
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SURVEY OF COUNSELLING SERVICES L.23
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Table M.1 Major forms of gambling t
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and sport development fund. In some
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Tax on keno In New South Wales, the
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Poker machines In most states, lice
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Table M3: Gaming machine taxation b
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Table M3: (continued) Hotels: Levie
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Table M4: (continued) NSW VIC QLD W
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Table M5: (continued) OTHER GAMBLIN
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N.1 Characteristics of machines of
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Table N.1 Australia, Japan, United
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Table N.2 Australia, Indiana, Conne
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The following discussion of gaming
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Canada Broadly speaking, Canada has
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Figure N.4 Japanese pachislo machin
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Winnings Progressive jackpots are p
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Bets and losses Bets and losses on
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In Japan, the minimum amount requir
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N.2 Market segments As with many ot
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Box N.4 Comments on market segments
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O Displacement of illegal gambling?
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survive together because they cater
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P Spending by problem gamblers The
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Table P.1 Outlays, player losses an
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Table P.3 Concentration of outlays
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Figure P.2 Distribution of outlay b
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Table P.4 Expenditure shares of pro
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is adjusted for biases in its estim
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ACIL (sub. D233. p. 48) claimed tha
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P.5 Estimating the expenditure shar
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expenditures shares are shown in ta
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of counselling agencies is necessar
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Table Q.2 Employment status of prob
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Table Q.3 continued Study Average a
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Relationship status The greater inv
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Table Q.6 Gender of problem gambler
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The pattern of an increased feminis
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R Bankruptcy and gambling This appe
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Table R.2 Age profile of bankrupts,
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Table R.5 New bankruptcies per mill
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Figure R.2 continued Western Austra
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• The penalty has become less sev
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S State and territory gambling data
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Table S.4 Real government revenue f
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Table S.8 Real government revenue,
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Table S.12 Real government revenue
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Dickerson et al (1998, p. 79) for e
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However, the survey used a set of p
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T.3 The logistic approach The NORC
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Table T.3 Method Various estimates
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such as France and the US (Casino I
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Table U.2 An example of an outcome
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intensity on the 85.15 per cent Cas
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considers that the machine price
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egular playing (30 years) the proba
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for an amount of time that is less
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U.6 The gambler’s fallacy Gambler
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This does not mean that a person ca
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V Use of the SOGS in Australian gam
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Differences in question wording and
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References AADAC (Alberta Alcohol a
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—— 1998, Efficient Tobacco Taxa
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Bickerdyke, I. and Lattimore, R. 19
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——, Dickerson, M. and Harley, B
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Campbell, C. and Smith G. 1998, Can
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—— and Winefield, A.H. 1996, Co
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——, Baxter, P., Boreham, P., Ha
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Ferguson, B. 1996, A Note on the In
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—— 1997, Legalised Gambling as
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Horner, T. and Bradfield, G. 1998,
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——, Marston, A., Singer, R., Wi
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Gambling Studies, ‘Towards 2000:
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—— 1995b, Social impacts of urb
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—— and Ohtsuka, K. 1999, ‘The
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NT Select Committee (Select Committ
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Prosser, G., Breen, H., Weeks, P. a
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Single, E., Collins, D., Easton, B.
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Thomas, S., Jackson, A., Thomason,
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—— 1997, Gambling and Problem G
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Australia's Gambling Industries - Productivity Commission

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