Francis Markham

The relationship between player losses and gambling-related harm: evidence from nationally representative cross-sectional surveys in four countries

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Flaws in previous studies mean that findings of J-shaped risk curves for gambling should be disregarded. The current study aims to estimate the shape of risk curves for gambling losses and risk of gambling-related harm (a) for total gambling losses and (b) disaggregated by gambling activity. DESIGN Four cross-sectional surveys. SETTING Nationally representative surveys of adults in Australia (1999), Canada (2000), Finland (2011) and Norway (2002). PARTICIPANTS A total of 10 632 Australian adults, 3120 Canadian adults, 4484 people aged 15-74 years in Finland and 5235 people aged 15-74 years in Norway. MEASUREMENTS Problem gambling risk was measured using the modified South Oaks Gambling Screen, the NORC DSM Screen for Gambling Problems and the Problem Gambling Severity Index. FINDINGS Risk curves for total gambling losses were estimated to be r-shaped in Australia {β losses = 4.7 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.8, 6.5], β losses(2 =)  -7.6 (95% CI = -17.5, -4.5)}, Canada [β losses = 2.0 (95% CI = 1.3, 3.9), β losses(2 =)  -3.9 (95% CI = -15.4, -2.2)] and Finland [β losses = 3.6 (95% CI = 2.5, 7.5), β losses(2 =)  -4.4 (95% CI = -34.9, -2.4)] and linear in Norway [β losses = 1.6 (95% CI = 0.6, 3.1), β losses(2 =)  -2.6 (95% CI = -12.6, 1.4)]. Risk curves for different gambling activities showed either linear, r-shaped or non-significant relationships. CONCLUSIONS Player loss-risk curves for total gambling losses and for different gambling activities are likely to be linear or r-shaped. For total losses and electronic gaming machines, there is no evidence of a threshold below which increasing losses does not increase the risk of harm.

Too close to home? The relationships between residential distance to venue and gambling outcomes

Although gambling accessibility is generally viewed as a multidimensional construct, few studies have successfully untangled the specific role of spatial accessibility in determining gambling outcomes relative to other forms (i.e. temporal, social and psychological). In this paper, we explore the association between gambling outcomes and the distance travelled from a persons home to their most-frequented gambling venue. To this end, we conducted a geocoded mail survey of 7044 households in the Northern Territory of Australia. We employed a geographic information system to calculate the network distance from each household to all visited electronic gaming machine (EGM) venues (n = 64). Multivariate regression modelling revealed that, when adjusted for individual and neighbourhood-level characteristics, frequency of venue visitation and gambling participation were inversely related to residential distance from venue. There was no additional distance effect for problem gambling. Spatial accessibility of EGMs is an important determinant of gambling risk and should be explicitly considered by regulators.

Placing Bets: gambling venues and the distribution of harm

ABSTRACT The liberalisation of gambling in Australia has resulted in the dispersal of 200 000 electronic gaming machines (EGMs) across the country, generating substantial revenues for State governments and the gambling industry as well as causing significant gambling-related harm. While the spatial distribution of EGM venues has been shown to follow a gradient of community disadvantage, little is known about the distinctions between the venues themselves (i.e. pubs, clubs, and casinos), either in terms of the catchments they service or the harm they produce. To this end, we constructed a sexpartite typology of EGM venues in the Northern Territory of Australia derived from venue location and licensing variables. We also conducted a geocoded mail survey (n=7041) of households in three urban centres to describe the composition of markets and problem-gambling outcomes across the six venue categories in the typology. Venues in accessible locations and those with a higher numbers of EGMs, particularly casinos and clubs located near supermarkets, were most closely associated with gambling-related harm, even when differing player socio-demographics were accounted for. We argue that gambling risk is a function of the interaction of geographic accessibility to markets on the one hand and venue effects on the other. An understanding of the geography of EGM gambling may help improve supply-side approaches to regulation, as well as shed insights into contemporary urban processes within Australias regional settlements.

Gambling expenditure predicts harm: evidence from a venue-level study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The Total Consumption Theory of gambling suggests that gambling expenditure is positively associated with gambling-related harm. We test the hypothesis that electronic gaming machine (EGM) expenditure predicts gambling-related harm at the level of the EGM venue. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis of survey and administrative data. SETTING General urban adult population of the Northern Territory of Australia. PARTICIPANTS The sample consisted of 7049 respondents to a mail-survey about venue visitation and gambling behaviour across 62 EGM venues. MEASUREMENTS Gambling-related harm was defined as the endorsement of two or more items on the Problem Gambling Severity Index. We obtained venue-level EGM expenditure data from the local licensing authority for all venues in the study area. We compared the prevalence of gambling-related harm among patrons aggregated at the venue level with the estimated mean EGM expenditure for each adult resident in the venues service area using a Huff model, correlation analysis and multivariate binomial regression. FINDINGS Aggregated to the venue level (n = 62), per-capita EGM expenditure was correlated significantly with rates of gambling-related harm (r = 0.27, n = 62, P = 0.03). After adjusting for venue type and number of EGMs, an increase in mean per-capita monthly EGM expenditure from

The relationship between alcohol consumption, gambling behaviour and problem gambling during a single visit to a gambling venue

AU10 to

Estimating gambling venue catchments for impact assessment using a calibrated gravity model

AU150 was associated with a doubling in the prevalence of gambling-related harm from 9% (95% CI = 6-12%) to 18% (95% CI = 13-23%). CONCLUSIONS As suggested by the Total Consumption Theory of gambling, aggregate patron electronic gaming machine expenditure predicts the prevalence of gambling-related harm at the venue level.

Being Moved (On): The biopolitics of Walking in Australia's Frontier Towns

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS Despite the well-documented comorbidity between disordered alcohol use and problem gambling, little is known about the co-occurrence of drinking and gambling in gambling venues. This paper appears to be the first to investigate the association between drinking and gambling behaviour among a large sample of gamblers during a specific, non-laboratory gambling episode. DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a mail survey of all available households in the Northern Territory of Australia, including questions on drinking and gambling behaviour on the last visit to a gambling venue. We estimate the effect of moderate (1-4 standard drinks) and risky (>4 standard drinks) alcohol consumption on gambling participation and gambling duration for both problem and non-problem gamblers using regression analysis of 7044 survey responses. RESULTS The probability of participating in electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling decreased with alcohol consumption for non-problem gamblers, while the probability of participating in TAB (Totalisator Agency Board, off-course totalisator) gambling increased with risky alcohol consumption for all gamblers. Alcohol consumption was not associated with EGM gambling participation for problem gamblers. Moderate alcohol consumption was negatively associated with EGM gambling duration, with a stronger effect observed for problem gamblers. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Moderate alcohol consumption is inversely correlated with both the duration of play and probability of participation for EGM gambling. Current laboratory studies do not predict the drinking-gambling behaviour of the general population in non-laboratory settings. Future research on alcohol and gambling co-occurrence must explicitly consider the drinking and gambling environment in order to produce policy-relevant findings.

Commentary on Dowling et al. (2016): is it time to stop conducting problem gambling prevalence studies?

Gambling using electronic gaming machines (EGMs) has emerged as a significant public health issue. While social impact assessments are required prior to the granting of new gaming machine licenses in Australia, there are a few established techniques for estimating the spatial distribution of a venue’s clientele. To this end, we calibrated a Huff model of gambling venue catchments based on a geocoded postal survey (n = 7040). We investigated the impact of different venue attractiveness measures, distance measures, distance decay functions, levels of spatial aggregation and venue types on model fit and results. We then compared model estimates for different behavioural subgroups. Our calibrated spatial model is a significant improvement on previously published models, increasing R2 from 0.23 to 0.64. Venue catchments differ radically in size and intensity. As different population subgroups are attracted to different venues, there is no single best index of venue attractiveness applicable to all subpopulations. The calibrated Huff model represents a useful regulatory tool for predicting the extent and composition of gambling venue catchments. It may assist in decision-making with regard to new license applications and evaluating the impact of health interventions such as mandated reductions in EGM numbers. Our calibrated parameters may be used to improve model accuracy in other jurisdictions.

Venue-Level Predictors of Alcohol-Related Violence: An Exploratory Study in Melbourne, Australia

It is in the contemporary period of Indigenous cultural recognition that the biopolitical system of policing Aboriginal walkers in Australias frontier towns has become so normalized that it takes place without public notice, using universally accepted mechanisms for shedding metropolitan areas of the unsightly and unwanted. Ironically, the hypermarginalized hunter-gatherer population can be identified by their perambulation — they walk — a form of urban nomadism that is both desired and reviled. Aboriginal pedestrians who are temporarily not in motion are forced to keep moving but are not expelled altogether, for their presence is essential to the regions wider economic interests. Since Aboriginal pedestrians are “moved on” when entrepreneurial imperatives cannot be met, and since moving is also a means of remaining invisible in the most heavily policed commercial zones, walking is thus overdetermined, a coproduced effect of racial excision and resistance in the ambivalent political economies of the Australian liberal-settler frontier.

Coercive commodities and the political economy of involuntary consumption: The case of the gambling industries

Keywords: Epidemiology; gambling; pathological gambling; prevalence; problem gambling; problem gambling prevalence