Resources - Alliance for Gambling Reform

Resources

 

Alliance policies and position papers on reform issues


LANGUAGE GUIDE:

 

Links to gambling data

National:

Every November, the Qld Statistician releases national figures of all legal gambling activity in every state and territory. There is a small time-lag due to data verification, so the figures are for the financial year ending the year before the release. However, given some jurisdictions don't publish data, this is the only source where all the data is consistent and relatively up to date.

 

Victoria:

 

NSW:

Data for poker machines in clubs and pubs in NSW is published 6 monthly by the Dept of Liquor and Gaming. Data is reported by Local Government Area (LGA)

There are some quirks to note: The reporting period for clubs is June-Nov & Dec-May, while pubs report July-Dec & Jan-June, although both data sets are released at the same time.

In NSW, there is no venue by venue data. If there are fewer than 5 clubs in an LGA, Liquor and Gaming bundle the data in with a neighbouring LGA. They do the same if there are less than 5 pubs. However, they don't bundle the same LGAs together, and if an additional club or pub opens, they deamalgamate the data. This means it can be impossible to determine the losses in LGAs with small numbers of venues, especially if they open and close from time to time.

 

The Fairfield Community Gambling Harm screening tool project

The Alliance was on the advisory committee for this project, which was funded by the NSW ORG. Using short tools to detect harm among gamblers and affected others, community workers and GPs were trained to help clients fill in the survey, provide general information and to make referrals if appropriate. One outcome was that 53% of participants reported some kind of harm - far higher than any other study has shown.

GamblingImage

Read more here >>

 

2020 Summary of the NSW situation in regard to gambling harm, legislation, costs etc, produced by the NSW Parliamentary Librarian - we think it's a great starting point if you need to get up to speed quickly.

Resources for CALD and Indigenous communities


The NSW SouthWest Sydney Primary Health Network created a number of posters and flyers explaining gambling harm. These are made available free for use, but please acknowledge the PHN if you do use them.

 

Understanding culturally appropriate ways to discuss gambling harm, from the ANU Centre for Gambling Research

 

The Embrace Project

Embrace Multicultural Mental Health (the Embrace Project) is run by Mental Health Australia and provides a national focus on mental health and suicide prevention for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

It provides a national platform for Australian mental health services and multicultural communities to access resources, services and information in a culturally accessible format. Please click here to go to their website.

Embrace Multicultural Mental Health have developed a range of resources to help community leaders recognise if someone may need to seek help for their mental health. Please click here to view information for community leaders and translated materials.  

Australia has a range of mental health services to meet the needs of multicultural communities. Please click here for details on the available mental health services.

Beyond Blue has created a series of resources in a range of languages to help people in Australia understand how to find support and feel comfortable talking about their experiences. Please click here to go to their website.

Lifeline has recently launched a ‘SMS’ texting service to provide confidential one-to-one crisis support. Sometimes it can be difficult to talk to someone when you need help, to learn more about Lifeline’s texting service, please click here.

About us | Embrace Multicultural Mental Health

 

Helpful resources for Victorian communities

Check out this awesome animation by the VLGA about how to beat a pokie application in your community!

This data has been compiled by the City of Greater Dandenong, a leadership council of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, to help interested parties obtain information about the impact of gambling upon their local areas.

If an application for poker machines has arisen in your local area, reviewing the previous VCGLR decisions on gaming applications will be helpful in preparing to present a rebuttal case to Council and the VCGLR if necessary. Including specific data of your local area and the potential harm caused by additional pokies will be crucial to making your case, as well as linking to the listed relevant research.

 

DATA

 

ASSISTANCE WITH GAMING APPLICATIONS

 

ALTERNATIVE RECREATION

  • Framework for webpage about alternative recreation
  • My Community Life
    • This is a free online marketing website for not for profit community groups, clubs and organisations to list their details, events, activities and volunteer opportunities within the City of Kingston. This provides a resource for residents to find out how they can be involved in community life in the City of Kingston. It’s a Council owned and administered site however the content is user generated with all groups creating their own listings. We have over 450 groups with profiles and an average of 160 events and 80 volunteering roles listed.

 

USEFUL WEBSITES

 

REGULATOR DECISIONS

Dee Why RSL disciplinary action, NSW, July 2020

 

RELEVANT RESEARCH & ACADEMIC STUDIES

The following is relevant studies and background papers from government departments, relevant bodies, and researchers.

Understanding how gambling addiction works

What does a public health approach to gambling look like? The Public Health Association of Australia have this discussion paper.

Economic costs of gambling

2007 SA Centre for Economic Studies assessment of impact of gambling - this research shows that $1million invested in food and beverages creates 20 jobs, $1million invested in pokies creates only 3 jobs

2017 The Social cost of gambling in Victoria - research shows that while the Victorian budget received $2billion a year in taxes, there were $7billion a year in costs.

Other reports