Page 2955 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 September 1994
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The Gambling Counselling and Crisis Service has been contacted to discuss sports betting. The director of the Counselling Service has advised the Bureau that approximately 90% of the calls to the service are in respect of poker machine problems. Following the opening of the casino the number of calls for assistance have not increased greatly however the amounts of money involved has increased considerably.
The director further advised that very few calls to the service were related to gambling problems with bookmakers.
The director conceded that if people are going to bet, they will bet, however to provide some level of protection to gamblers, the operational instructions in regard to the betting auditorium will include some provisions in respect to credit and settlement of obligations. It should be noted that as only licensed bookmakers may apply for a sports betting licence, the operators at the betting auditorium will be experienced in dealing with "problem" gamblers.
Subsequently, I received a copy of a letter which was addressed to the Minister, Mr Lamont, from Anne Bannerman, who is the executive director of Lifeline Canberra Inc., the major community group with responsibility for gambling counselling services. She says that during the financial year 1993-94 Lifeline received over 14,500 calls and that some 8.3 per cent of them were related to addictions including gambling. By my calculations, that is about 1,000 of those 14,500 calls. She also said that to promote awareness of the gambling and financial counselling service a television and radio advertisement had been created. Madam Speaker, I am satisfied with this response that I have received on this issue, but it is an issue that I think we will need to monitor during the course of the introduction and establishment of sports betting in the ACT.
The second issue that I would like to comment on briefly concerns the reported leaking of the name of the Rothmans Medal winner in the Winfield Cup competition which was announced recently. Concern was expressed that the result was known before the announcement was made, enabling some people to take advantage of that situation and place bets on the eventual winner. I do not wish to draw a direct analogy between what occurred in New South Wales and the introduction of sports betting here in the ACT, because the processes are quite different. However, I understand that the Government will look at preventing sports betting on events in the ACT where results are determined and some time then elapses before the announcements are made. I believe that this is a sensible measure and one which is designed to prevent problems occurring in the future. In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I am happy to support these Bills, and I look forward to hearing more about the establishment and development of sports betting in the ACT.
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