Page 5559 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 November 2010
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types of issues that face problem gamblers. There are commonly a range of other mental health and substance addiction issues as well as the very real risk of suicide.
There is a particular concern that, for many problem gamblers, it is only when they are contemplating suicide that they begin to seek help. If nothing else can convince you of the need to take serious action, surely this alone demonstrates how important it is that we improve the availability of problem gambling services so that they can assist people before things get so bad that those suffering contemplate taking their own lives.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-VI, of individuals in treatment for pathological gambling, 20 per cent are reported to have attempted suicide, and the Greens have not found any research to suggest that the Australian experience is significantly different from this.
In addition to the overwhelming empirical evidence, it is appropriate to put one individual’s story on the record. This is an example we have taken from the beyondblue website. We have chosen this one because we believe it is one of many examples that illustrate just how gambling has affected, in this case, one particular person, but there are many thousands of others in Canberra and around Australia going through exactly the same thing every day. This was posted on 27 April this year:
I started gambling at 47 I am now 54 and curse the day. I have lost thousands! As a result I have very high blood pressure. I only gamble on pay day. I go at lunch time or I go after work and usually blow my entire fortnight’s wage. Then I need to invent stories so I can borrow money to buy food. I am, so ashamed of myself & the lies that I have told people. I have had to declare myself bankrupt to get out of debt.
It is a shocking disease that brings nothing but heartache stress and yes you miss out on lots of good stuff because you have been gambling and have no money. I very rarely win and when I do yes I put it all back in the hope of winning a bigger prize it just does not happen. I have walked out crying at what I have done, I have felt physically sick and finished up with migraines. I am stunned that I have allowed this to happen to me I am a very practical person all it takes is that one press of the button and you are hooked. Every fortnight I say never again - writing this down I hope will help. Good luck to me and everyone trying to kick this addiction.
That is a very profound set of personal observations that somebody has made there. Whilst that is not everybody’s experience, it is not an atypical experience. If you add to this the implications for family or friends—and you can imagine what that has been in this sort of story—you get some idea of the problem we in the ACT need to confront.
The estimate Lifeline Canberra provided to the 2010 Productivity Commission inquiry was that there are around 6,000 people in the ACT with a significant gambling problem. In 2001, the Australian Institute for Gambling Research estimated that in the ACT we had 5,300 problem gamblers. It is a significant increase from 5,300 to 6,000
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