Poker Machine Gambling Rates in Australia

Poker Machine Gambling Rates

Introduction

Gambling is a prevalent activity among the Australians. Most of the Australian adults spend much of their leisure activities in gambling with rates standing at around 83%. The rate is the highest in the world. According to Sfetcu (2014, p. 23), around 6% of the entire adult population spends a third of its time in poker machines, thus, contributing to 60% of the entire amount of money spent in gambling activities.

Overview of Poker Machine Gambling Rates in Australia

Sfetcu (2014, p. 123) further asserts that Australia is the leading country in the concentration of poker machines per head of the population in the world. Various objectors, for instance, the branches of clergy and charities for the poor, have criticized the spread of the pokies since it has led to the rise of problem gambling. In this context, problem gambling is gambling to a level, which causes financial and social issues to the gambler and their families.  “Queen of the Nile” is one of the most popular Australian poker machine games. The Australian rate of electronic gaming machines is quite high standing at 62% of the entire gambling expenditure. Due to this reason, the country suffers the highest rate of problem gamblers standing at 75-80%. Averagely, a player losses close to $ 3700 annually in New South Wales, $ 3,100 in Victoria and $ 1,800 in Queensland.

According to Kingma (2009, p. 33), a poker gambler can lose around $ 21,000 annually, which is approximately a person’s salary.  Gambling has brought its costs to the society. Despite the losses, pokers experience social costs, which amount to $ 4.7 billion annually. The harms include loss of jobs, bankruptcy, high crime levels, relationship breakdowns, depression, suicide and reduced work productivity. The chart below indicates the level of poker machines in the country.

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Figure 1: Annual Gambling Expenditure in Australia

Source: Roy Morgan Gambling (2013-2014)

The chart indicates poker machines account for 60% ($ 9.8 billion) of the $ 16.3 billion spent on gambling in the entire 12 months. The other six forms of gambling take the remaining 39%, which is $ 6.5 billion.

Analysis Regarding Government Intervention

Stäheli (2013, p. 247) asserts that gambling is an activity that is not beneficial to the economy. Gambling in its entirety encompasses the movement of money or goods among people while failing to create new money and goods. In addition, the activity absorbs a lot of time and resources. Therefore, when pursued to the extremes, it subtracts from the national income. Despite the fact that governments have found gambling as an avenue to raise taxes, considerations should shift as to whether the lives of citizens are improving commensurate to the economic growth. According to Kingma (2009, p. 41) the total consumption (expenditure or losses) of gambling products in Australia stood at $ 19 billion in 2008-2009, which was equivalent to 4% of the household disposable income. Poker machine gambling grew from $ 2,054 million in the 1990s when there existed few registered clubs to $10,095 million in 2005 alone.

Poker gambling has distinctive characteristics, for instance, it is common amongst young working-class men and older women visiting clubs within the suburbs. The consumption of electronic gaming is asymmetrically distributed spatially and socially. The significant rates are located in the most socioeconomically poor areas while the social costs of problem gambling have risen to $ 4.7 billion a year. In this context, sound policy measures with modest efficacy in minimizing the harmful effects of poker gambling will assist. Therefore, since poker gambling is a norm in the country, there is a need for government intervention. The government will have to instigate measures that will minimize the socioeconomic loss that currently stands at $ 4.7 billion, despite the need for taxes to run the economy. The Australian Government (2010, p. 1) report in gambling outlines various policies and procedures to control the rates of poker machine gambling in the country.

As stated above, a player can lose close to $ 1500 or more in an hour of poker machine gambling. Players can feed up to $ 10,000 into the gaming machine. In this case, there is no guarantee that he or she will win, thus, leading to losses. A new policy focuses on minimizing the amount to $ 20. The new policy is effective since it will lessen the personal losses thus reducing the social costs associated with problem gambling. Though the reduced betting amount might have an impact on the revenues collected in the form of taxes, it will minimize on the costly measures the government should put in place to decrease the rates of poverty in the country, which are associated with poker machine gambling. In light of the economic systems, having reduced amount of money used in betting will increase the disposable incomes among most of the Australian households. The vast sums of money used for betting will be invested in viable projects within the country thus increasing the per capita income of each person in the country.

The government should moderate the poker machine gaming supply in the country. The policy should be accompanied by effective harm minimisation measures to assist persons experiencing problem gambling. The online gaming platforms should not be exempted since gamblers tend to switch to such sites. Moderating the supply of the poker gaming machines in the nation despite the existing supply of individuals with the intention to gamble will save extensive resources and time. Having a high number of poker machine games exposes individuals to a huge loss since the avenues are readily available to the users. However, constraining the sources minimizes the losses people incur since the possibility of failure due to excessive gambling will be curtailed. Additionally, as stated above, harm minimization controls the amount of money an individual can lose at a time while gambling (Delfabbro & King, 2012)

Figure 2: A Demand Curve Showing the Impact of the country’s Policies

 

The demand curve above indicates the rate of consumption considering the quantity of poker gambling machines in the country. The demand for poker machines remains constant while the government reduces the supply for the same. The quantity consumed will reduce due to the reduced supply in the country. Therefore, the government will be able to control the consumption of the poker gambling in the country.

Conclusion

The essay sought to establish the rates, the costs and the relevant solutions to poker machine gambling in Australia. It focused on the viable economic models that can assist the government in minimizing the costs associated with the activity. The essay established that Australia is the leading country in poker machine gambling globally. Gamblers can lose close to $ 1600 or more an hour while gambling. The activity has led to increased socioeconomic loss currently at $ 4.7 billion. To minimize the problem effectively, the government should focus on moderating the poker machine gaming supply in the country, put in place the actual harm minimization measures, curbing the supply of poker machines and reducing the amount a player can lose to $ 20 instead of the current $ 10,000.

References

Australian Government. (2010). Productivity Commission: Gambling inquiry Report.

Chambers, K. (2011). Gambling for profit : lotteries, gaming machines, and casinos in cross national focus. Toronto Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.

Delfabbro, P., & King, D. (2012). Gambling in Australia: Experiences, problems, research and policy. Addiction, 107(9), 1556-1561.

Kingma, S. F. (Ed.). (2009). Global gambling: cultural perspectives on gambling organizations.  Routledge.

Sfetcu. N. (2014). Gaming in Online Casinos. Internet casino guide - best gambling on net and casino bonus

Stäheli, U. (2013). Spectacular speculation: Thrills, the economy, and popular discourse.   Stanford University Press.

 

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