The Little Blue Book

It is not just poker machines driving the gambling epidemic in this country – Australians have always had an appetite for a punt. “Aussies would bet on two flies climbing up a wall”, so the saying goes. Horses, dogs, lotto, pokies… you name it, gambling is an embedded part of Australian culture. But we’ve come a long way from the corner TAB and the SP bookie doing business in the lane behind the pub. These days, we carry 24/7 access to a global gambling industry in our pockets. And we’re bombarded with gambling advertising everywhere we look; even our children are caught in the spray. The financial and social cost is appalling. In the 2016-17 financial year, Australians spent $209 billion dollars in all forms of gambling and lost $23.7 billion. This amounts to a loss of $1251 for every man, woman, and child over the age of 18. 1 Might there be something wrong with that picture? RECOGNISING GAMBLING DISORDER Like other addictions, denial and self-deception – “I don’t have a problem, I can stop anytime I want to” - is a common phase in the progression to addiction for the chronic gambler. And, because outwardly the person may appear ‘just the same’, still arriving to work and coming home in a suit, still driving a smart car, still holding a good job, the gambling disorder their denials are hiding may be difficult for even family members – much less co-workers – to identify. But below the façade, the maxed-out credit card balances and drained finances will be painting another picture. That picture will be filled with stress, money worries and family worries (if the chaos below the surface has made it home). It is a path familiar to any addict: progressive failures of control, periods of abstinence, then more failures of control, and all the while – if help or the strength to break free is not found – on a well-worn spiral into financial and personal chaos. How quickly an addicted gambler finds ‘the bottom of the bucket’ depends upon the scale of the compulsion, the financial assets available to feed the addiction and the gambler’s appetite for risk. The price we pay (1) Queensland Government Statisticians Office; QLD treasury Did you know? ! 79 ADA Australia PostScript Section 2 Section 1 Section 3