Australia's Gambling Industries - Productivity Commission

Costs have not been attributed to all of the adverse consequences listed in table J.1
above. Some are too difficult to value or could be included in other categories, but
they are listed above to indicate the extent of impacts of costs borne by people as a
result of problem gambling.
In addition to information on the extent of adverse consequences, the questionnaires
provided additional information that has assisted the Commission in placing values
on some of the costs of gambling (table J.2). This includes, for example, the number
of people in the household, which establishes a lower limit on the number of other
people likely to be adversely affected by some of the problems relating to gambling.
Table J.2
Other information gathered from Commission surveys
National
Gambling Survey
Survey of Clients
of Counselling
Agencies
current gambling debt na $10 044
length of problem gambling na 8.9 years
average number of people in household (problem
3.3 2.6
gamblers)
number of children under 15 (problem gamblers) 0.62 0.58
current employment status (per cent employed) 69 75
Source: PC National Gambling Survey 1999, and PC Survey of Clients of Counselling Agencies 1999.
The survey questions were asked only of regular gamblers
The national survey asked questions on gambling related problems of the general
population of regular gamblers. Regular gamblers are those who engage in some
form of gambling, on average, once a week (other than those who are solely ‘low
level’ regular lottery or lotto players). These questions were not asked of nonregular
gamblers, as it is unlikely that group would suffer significant adverse
consequences as a result of their own gambling activities. Nevertheless, the costs are
understated to the extent that any of the non-regular gamblers do suffer some
adverse consequences.
In most cases the Commission has used information on the prevalence of adverse
consequences among regular gamblers from the National Gambling Survey. In a few
areas (such as the level of debt, incidences of violence, and prevalence of jail terms)
information was only available from the Survey of Clients of Counselling Agencies.
As noted, because the prevalence of problems is likely to be much greater for those
seeking counselling, the prevalence rate from the Survey of Clients of Counselling
Agencies has been applied only to the population scoring 10 or more on SOGS
(47 000 people). To the extent that those scoring 5 to 9 on the SOGS are likely to
MEASURING COSTS J.5