Anglicare news - New research report
Anglicare researcher, Margie Law, with the new research report Nothing Left to Lose. Photo Anglicare
Nothing left to lose
The link between problem gambling and crime was highlighted in a new research report released by Anglicare Tasmania last month.
The report Nothing Left to Lose recommended greater consumer protection for Tasmanian gamblers and that new sentencing options are made available for gambling-related crimes.
The research examined cases of gambling-related crime brought before the Tasmanian Supreme Court between 2004-2009. In half of the cases, the people had no prior convictions.
‘Many of them were under stress from work and family pressures and turned to gambling as a form of relief,’ said Anglicare researcher, Margie Law. ‘What they got instead was escalating debt and a prison sentence’.
Tasmanians are losing more money every year to gambling. In 2007-08, $294 million was lost – most of it through poker machines. Nearly half of the money lost was by people with a gambling problem.
‘What the review of these cases clearly shows is that ordinary people are doing things they would not ordinarily do, that is, committing serious crimes, because of a gambling problem that leaves them with nothing left to lose,’ Ms Law said.
The research found that the true cost of gambling-related crime is hidden. There are the costs of police, court proceedings, imprisonment and foster care.
‘For the offenders and their families there are the costs of lost income, loss of assets (in some cases their homes), health costs and, for their children, the loss of their parent’.
Of the people who gamble regularly, one in five are already experiencing or are likely to experience problems with their gambling.
Anglicare Tasmania recommended that:
- a range of sentencing options be made available for gambling-related crimes. This includes a court-mandated diversion scheme to enable people to receive counselling for their gambling problem and undertake community service for their crime;
- data collection in courts and prisons be improved so that the real scope of the problem can be identified;
- there be improved advertising and promotion of gambling help services;
- the State Government fund community education programs focused on early intervention;
- an independent review be made of advertising, promotion and the development of gambling technology; and
- the betting limit for poker machines be reduced to $1 a spin to cut the amount that can be lost per machine per hour.
‘We want Tasmanians to understand that regular gambling can lead to serious problems and that when people gamble, they should expect to lose,’ Ms Law said.
The full report can be viewed on Anglicare’s website