Concerns are being raised about the link between mental health and problem gambling, with experts calling for extra support to help vulnerable people.
Australians are being encouraged to take a closer look at how gambling might be affecting their mental health.
From scratch lottery tickets to sports betting, Australia is gambling away approximately $24 billion-dollars a year according the latest national statistics, with 14 billion dollars being spent on pokies.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform Chief Advocate, the Reverend Tim Costello says Australia has the greatest gambling losses per head in the world, 30 per cent higher per capita than the second ranking Singapore.
Mr Costello also says there is a link between gambling addiction and mental ill-health.
"The dopamine released in the brain that hits the pleasure centre with the force of cocaine. Pokies are the crack cocaine of gambling which leads to rapid addiction. And from addiction the shame the silence the mental health issues start to occur and I have to say with the ubiquity of sports betting ads, people with mental health illnesses are the ones who often take up gambling because that hope that I am a winner, I am not a loser is just pumped out of them all the time," he explains.
The head of the Monash Gambling and Social Determinants Unit Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, says the effects of problem gambling on mental health, especially poker machine usage is only now being fully understood.
He says there are many factors that can make a person more vulnerable to addiction including social isolation and in some cases, the stress that comes from discrimination.
"One of the other forms of stress is sort of discrimination and difficulties that non-English-speaking background communities often experience in our big cities and I think there is increasing evidence that Non-English Speaking Background people are suffering disproportionately when it comes to the harms associated with gambling," professor Livingstone adds.
Lack of transparency
Some of the funding for charities, not-for-profit groups and community programs including those assisting problem gamblers comes from what is known as the Community Benefits Scheme.
The scheme requires gaming venues to make payments to the Responsible Gambling Fund ((RGF)) when a venue increases its number of gaming machines.
Researchers at the Monash Gambling and Social Determinants Unit have tracked how this money is being managed and found there is a lack of transparency across the states and territories about where it is going.
"Clubs of course will say that everything they do will benefits the community but that's very difficult when you have for example a very big football club such as an AFL club or a rugby league club which is actually giving most of the money to elite sports people and to elite sports facilities’’ says Mr Livingstone before adding: ‘’So what we end up with is a scenario in which over 70 per cent of revenue that is claimed to support community, actually ends up going straight back to the club themselves and benefits only the club and in many cases, not even the general club members."
If you or someone you know face problems with gambling you can seek out support at Gambling Help Online by calling 1800 858 858. The service is operating 24/7. You can also call Lifeline at 13 11 14.
