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Research carried out by the GeoHealth Laboratory at the University of Canterbury shows people who live in neighbourhoods with good access to a gambling venue are more likely to develop gambling problems.
The Ministry of Health has released a report titled Raising the Odds? Gambling Behaviour and neighbourhood access to gambling venues in New Zealand which investigated links between people’s gambling behaviour and their local gambling environment. The study was a joint project between Public Health Intelligence, the epidemiology group of the Ministry of Health, and UC’s GeoHealth Laboratory.
Dr Jamie Pearce, the Co-director of the GeoHealth Laboratory, said the national study analysed the 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey, and included information about neighbourhood access to non-casino gaming machine venues, casinos, and TABs. These types of gambling venues were chosen because gaming machines and racing have been found to be more often associated with harm due to the continuous nature of play.
New Zealanders spent $1.87 billion on gambling in 2003, the year of the survey, and the health study estimates about 1.2 per cent of Kiwis are problem gamblers. Problem gambling affects the physical, mental and social well-being of gamblers as well as their friends and family. Problem gambling is also closely related to various adverse health outcomes such as high levels of alcohol consumption, smoking, substance abuse, various psychiatric conditions and suicide.
Dr Pearce said opportunities to gamble were disproportionately located in more deprived neighbourhoods and in neighbourhoods that made the greatest use of them.
“Comparatively little research has been carried out on the link between accessibility to gambling facilities and gambling-related harm, despite researchers raising concerns about this link. This study found that gambling behaviour was significantly associated with gambling accessibility.
“The more gambling venues within 5km of your home, the more likely you are to have gambled and be a problem gambler,” Dr Pearce said. “People with some non-casino gaming machines within 800m of their neighbourhood centre were more likely to have played the pokies than people who did not.”
Dr Pearce said the results would be of interest to local authorities which were responsible for policies on Class 4 gambling venues (non-casino gaming machine venues) in their areas. The results of the study raise possibilities for area-based interventions to reduce gambling-related harm and the related health outcomes in New Zealand.
“These findings suggest that policies to reduce the public-health impact of problem gambling should focus on environmental modifications as well as individual behavioural change.”
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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