University experts have called on state governments and the gaming industry to recognise the seriousness of conditions such as depression and social isolation as contributing factors among people potentially at risk of developing gambling problems.

Speaking on 28 May 2008 at a ‘New Initiatives Forum’ to mark Responsible Gambling Awareness Week, Professor Alun Jackson, Co-Director of the Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre, announced a new study, authored jointly with the Centre’s co-director Professor Shane Thomas, of over 2,000 Victorian adults, which showed that problem gamblers were:

• 18.8 times more likely than non problem gamblers to display severe psychological distress
• 4.3 times more likely to show hazardous alcohol use than non problem gamblers, and
• 2.4 times more likely to be depressed than non problem gamblers.

Professor Jackson said that recent evidence from the US revealed that three quarters of problem gamblers who reported some other condition such as depression, alcohol abuse or substance abuse, experienced this condition prior to the onset of their problem gambling.

Professor Jackson also said that compared with non-problem gamblers, problem gamblers were:

• 3.1 times more likely to have a family member with gambling problems
• 2.1 times more likely to have a friend with gambling problems
• 2.4 times more likely to have a workmate with a gambling problem
• 5.6 times more likely to be divorced than non problem gamblers.

He also said that “at the community level, we have found that problem gamblers show a pattern of disconnectedness and perceived lack of support within their communities”.

Problem gamblers are:

• 11 times less likely to be able to call on friends, family or neighbours when they need help, than non problem gamblers
• Much less likely to feel valued by society, to undertake voluntary work or be a member of a community or sports group than non problem gamblers, and are nine times more likely to dislike living in their community.

Professor Jackson concluded that the Centre’s ‘Problem Gambling and Depression Study’ data clearly indicate that family and immediate social environmental risk factors are also important as well as the individual risk factors such as depression”.