Australia's Gambling Industries - Productivity Commission

the Commission has used this estimate in its analysis. This gives a cost of $3.2
million a year for Australia as a whole.
Court cases
The national survey results indicate that over 13 100 people have been involved in a
court case as a result of their gambling at some time in their lives, and that for 700
people this occurred in the last 12 months. In comparison with earlier work in
Australia, this appears low for the nation as a whole. Dickerson et al (1998)
estimated 815 court cases a year for New South Wales alone and, in addition, this
number was drawn from the population of problem gamblers only.
The costs of court proceedings can vary widely, depending on the complexity of the
case and the extent to which it is contested. Szabo (1997) said:
Contested cases involve two stages. The first is up to what is called the “pre trial
hearing” at which directions are given. The second is the time after that hearing and up
to the start of the final hearing. Costs for the first stage commonly range from
$3,000.00 to $8,000.00 depending at which stage you settle. The second stage involves
similar costs. Costs average around $4,000.00 for each day the matter takes during the
final hearing, including a barrister’s fee. Typically residence cases run for three to four
days.
On this basis, full court proceedings would cost between $23 000 and $32 000.
Not all the cost is carried by the plaintiff in the case. In 1997-98 expenditure on
courts amounted to $452 million (all Australian courts except the High Court)
(Steering Committee 1999). Court fees recovered from the plaintiffs represent 42
per cent of expenditure in 1997-98. With over 1.7 million cases initiated, the cost
averages $442 per case of which $237 is carried by the taxpayer.
In their NSW study, Dickerson et al (1998) used an average court case cost of
$6600.
In this study, the Commission has used the following information:
• an annual number of gambling related court cases of 700; and
• a cost of $8000 for each case.
On this basis, the court cases involving problem gamblers cost $5.6 million per year.
J.20 GAMBLING