Australia's Gambling Industries - Productivity Commission

• costs of gambling counselling services.
The following sections outline the methodology for estimating the cost of each type
of impact identified. In areas where either the prevalence is uncertain, or where the
cost can vary significantly, and where there is sufficient information, the
Commission has estimated a range of costs — a lower and a higher estimate. Even
when estimating the higher costs in the range presented, the Commission has tended
to be conservative.
Financial costs
Problem gamblers spend a considerable amount of money on their gambling,
estimated to average $12 200 each per year across all problem gamblers. Severe
problem gamblers spend significantly more, averaging an estimated $20 700 each
per year.
Spending at these levels, problem gamblers can quickly get into financial
difficulties. The information from the Commission’s National Gambling Survey
indicated that:
• 82 per cent of problem gamblers had borrowed money to pay for their gambling
in the last year;
• 19 per cent (54 800 people) had borrowed without paying back;
• 6 per cent had borrowed from loan sharks; and
• 0.2 per cent (2900 people) had gone bankrupt in the last 12 months as the result
of their gambling.
Of problem gamblers seeking help, the Survey of Clients of Counselling Agencies
indicated that 53 per cent had borrowed money without paying back, 13 per cent had
lost their superannuation and 8 per cent had lost their house as a result of their
gambling.
This section is concerned with the costs imposed on others by the debts of problem
gamblers, and the costs associated with bankruptcy by problem gamblers. ‘Costs’
associated with the high level of spending by problem gamblers themselves, and the
need to borrow money to finance this spending, are not included in the calculations
in this section. In chapter 5, when estimating the benefit that gamblers gain from
their spending, the Commission has discounted the gain that problem gamblers
receive to take into account their ‘excessive’ spending and the assumption that they
do not obtain full value for money for that excess spending.
J.8 GAMBLING