Gambling Workshop showing Australian Statistics

1. Beyond Cognition – The
Gamblers Subconscious
addiction...
Bruni Brewin JP
AHA ATMS PACFA ACEP

2. STATISTICS:
Australian Government
Productivity Commission

3. The Productivity Commission
• The Productivity Commission is the Australian
Government's independent research and
advisory body on a range of economic, social
and environmental issues affecting the
welfare of Australians. Its role, expressed
most simply, is to help governments make
better policies, in the long term interest of
the Australian community.

4. The Productivity Commission
• Australian Gambling Statistics for 2006-07
is expected to become available early in
2009, and during the course of this
inquiry, the Commission will seek more
current data from governments.

5. Gambling activity in Australia
• Gambling can be defined as staking
money on uncertain events driven by
chance, with the distinguishing feature
that, over time, gamblers as a group will
lose money.
• Gambling is, thus, more like consumption
than investment, with the benefits due to
the enjoyment of playing.

6. Gambling activity in Australia
• The main forms of gambling are gaming
machines (or poker machines), wagering
and betting on racing and sporting events,
casino games, and lottery products such
as lotto games and instant lotteries.

7. The gambling industries
• The ‘gambling industries’ consist of
organisations that provide gambling
services, such as clubs (hospitality and
sporting), hotels (pubs, taverns and bars),
casinos, TABs, sports betting
organisations and lottery organisations.
Each has some characteristics in common,
but also there are some significant
differences.

8. The gambling industries
• The most recently available ABS data on
gambling services in Australia are for
2004-05. According to those data, around
$16.5 billion in revenue was generated by
gambling businesses in 2004-05,

9. The gambling industries
• consisting of $15.5 billion in net takings
(turnover less payouts of prize money)
and $1 billion in commissions (monies
received by organisations acting as hosts
for the sale of off-course TAB products,
lottery tickets, Keno and gaming machine
services (ABS 2006).

10. The gambling industries
• The largest source of net takings was
gaming machines in hotels and clubs with
$8.7 billion (or 56 per cent of total net
takings). Gambling businesses generated
around $3 billion in profit (before tax) in
2004-05.

11. The gambling industries
• With the exception of casinos, the number
of businesses providing gambling services
fell considerably from 1998 to 2005
though, aggregate real spending on
gambling has continued to rise.

12. The gambling industries
• A particular area of community interest is
the availability of gaming machines, given
the major role they have in problem
gambling. There are currently just under
200 000 licensed gaming machines in use,
with most being in clubs and hotels,
compared with around 185 000 in 1999.

13. The gambling industries
However, the number of machines is not
the only consideration. There are at least
six other features relevant to the impacts
of gaming machines:
• the characteristics of gaming machines
(playing speed, denomination, structure
of payouts, and game types) and the
intensity of use...

14. The gambling industries
• the distribution of machines among
different socio-economic areas
• the number of venues
• the number of machines per venue
• their accessibility to the community
• competitive pressures to maximise use of
machines.

15. The gambling industries
• For instance, in Western Australia, gaming
machines are available at the Burswood
Casino only.
• In contrast, in New South Wales, gaming
machines are available in thousands of
venues.
• All other things being equal, these
differences can be expected to influence
the social and economic impacts of
gambling in the two States.

16. Gambling expenditure
• Data from the Australian Gambling
Statistics 1980-81 to 2005-06, prepared
by the Queensland Government Treasury,
show that Australians ‘spent’ about $17.5
billion in 2005-06 on gambling or about
$1100 per capita (adult) or 2.9 per cent of
household disposable income.

17. Gambling expenditure
• This expenditure represents the annual
net losses (or the amount wagered less
any winnings) of gamblers as a group in
Australia.
• Its significance compares with household
expenditure in 2005-06 of about $11
billion on gas, electricity and other fuel,
$11 billion on alcoholic beverages and $20
billion on clothing and footwear.

18. Gambling expenditure
• there is little utility in seeking to measure the
exact numbers of problem gamblers. As
noted, such a definitive result is probably a
conceptual and empirical impossibility.
• Moreover, whether the actual number of
problem gamblers is 1, 2 or 3 per cent of the
population, it equates to hundreds of
thousands of Australians, with many more
who are directly affected by their problems or
are at risk.

19. Gambling expenditure
• The costs of problem gambling included
financial and emotional impacts on gamblers
and on others, with on average at least five
other people affected to varying degrees.
• For example, one in ten problem gamblers
said they had contemplated suicide due to
gambling and nearly half of those in
counselling reported losing time from work or
study in the previous year due to gambling.

20. Gambling expenditure
• In its 1999 report, the Commission found
that counselling services for problem
gamblers served an essential role, but
that there was a lack of monitoring and
evaluation of different approaches, and
funding arrangements in some
jurisdictions were too short term.

21. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
• the text of the slides used in the G-line
presentation at the recent NSW Problem
Gambling Counsellors Conference during
the ‘hot topics’ session:
• In it, Kaga Bryan described a typical
response by G-line operators to three
different types of caller. They are the
long-term chronic gambler, the partner,
and the regular caller who is distressed.

22. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
Call 1: The long-term chronic gambler
· Has been gambling for a long while
1. Something has happened that day or the
day before and now they are broke
2. Their partner is threatening to Leave
3. They’ve hit ‘rock bottom’

23. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
• G-line Response:
· debrief and counselling
1. provide strategies
2. ascertain the motivation for calling today
3. provide resources initially and on-going
support
4. referral for face-to-face counselling

24. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
Call 2: The partner
· Concerned with how to broach the issue
1. Currently at pre-confrontation with the
gambler - unsure how to engage in the
discussion
2. Distressed at their situation and the
effect on their relationship

25. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
• G-line Response:
· suggest they explain to the gambler how
the gambling is affecting them
1. non- confrontational discussion
2. express the message “Dislike the
gambling, not the person”
3. referral for face-to-face counselling

26. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
Call 3: The regular caller – distressed
• Immediate desire to gamble
• They know G-line and have spoken to us
before
• They know we will be there to help them
• They have been invited on a previous call
to contact us when this situation occurs

27. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
G-line Response:
• explore immediate alternatives
1. keep the caller active on the phone for a
while - behavioural and cognitive
distraction
2. praise the caller for calling
3. discuss ‘triggers’ and what has happened
today to initiate this

28. G-LINE NEWS 16/5/2008
4. discuss what else they can do with their
time in future
5. referral for face-to-face counselling

29. The Client...
1. Booking advice to client
a. Expectancy of outcome
b. Fees and length/time of session
c. Let your client know that if it is habit most people
will stop gambling in a short number of sessions.
d. Advise client that if there is a stress that gambling is
helping him(her) cope with – that stress will need to
be addressed first.
e. Ask client to bring with them a list of any past
history from (d.) above.

30. The Questioning
• What do they know about their gambling:
• When did it start (how many years ago –
how old were you)?
• What are the triggers?
• What makes it worse? When is it not a
problem?
• What strategies do they use that work?
• What are feelings that need to be dealt
with?

31. The Questioning
• What have they tried before?
• How effective was this?
• What else could they do?
• Are they on medication?
• Have they suffered any illnesses or
anxieties or trauma?
• How is it affecting their relationship?
• How does that make them feel?

32. Questioning
• Have you ever been bullied, sexually abused,
other?
• Do you have or have had any injuries or
illnesses?
• Are you on medication and if so, what for?
• Do you have any other problems, i.e.
Asthma, don’t sleep well etc.
• Anything else that you think might be worth
mentioning to do with your problem?

33. Hypnosis
• A matter of choice...
– Emotional Freedom Technique
– Traumatic Incident Reduction
– Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing
– Ideo Motor questioning
– Metaphors/story telling
– Transactional Analysis (Parent, Adult, Child)
– NLP
– Anchoring
– Regression to original feeling etc.

34. Hypnosis
If anybody wants the research figures
shown please send me an email and I will
send a pdf file of these slides
Email: bruni.brewin_aha@froggy.com.au