Australia's Gambling Industries - Productivity Commission

Table J.9 Estimates for depression, 1997-98
Number of
people
(survey
data)
Adjusted
number of
Per person cost
assumption
Total cost
people a Low High Low High
Number $ $ $ million $ million
Rarely 63 500 50 800 ne ne ne ne
Sometimes 71 900 57 520 ne ne ne ne
Often 49 400 39 520 5 000 15 000 198 593
Always b 8 300 6 640 5 000 15 000 33 100
Total 231 692
a Includes causality adjustment. b Excludes those reporting suicide ideation.
Source: PC estimates
This results in an estimated range for the costs of gambling-related depression of
$231 million to $692 million in a year.
Depression can also involve a range of medical costs, either directly or indirectly, by
affecting the health of the sufferer. The Commission has not attempted to estimate
any of these additional costs.
Suicides
Thoughts of suicide and attempted suicides are considerably higher among the
population of problem gamblers than for the population as a whole. This has been
observed in other studies. In Canada, the National Council of Welfare (1996) said:
Suicide attempts among pathological gamblers occur much more frequently than among
the general population. A Quebec study of college students found that 26.8 per cent of
pathological gamblers had attempted suicide, compared to 7.2 per cent of college
students with no gambling problems. Among a sample of Gamblers Anonymous
members in the United States, it was found that 48 per cent had considered suicide and
13 per cent had attempted it. In fact, compared to other addictive disorders, the rate of
attempted suicide is highest among pathological gamblers.
Lesieur (1992) was reported in Goodman (1994) as finding that pathological
gamblers have a suicide rate five to ten times higher than the rest of the population.
Lesieur (1998) has also found that spouses of problem gamblers have suicide
attempt rates that are three times higher than those reported by the general
population.
MEASURING COSTS J.33