New research has confirmed a significant link between late-night poker machine gamblers and problematic gambling behaviour across the state’s licensed venues.
The Impact of Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) Late Night Play on EGM Player Behaviours study found that people with gambling problems represent the majority of late-night poker machine players, with almost two thirds of people playing poker machines between 2am and 8am experiencing significant negative consequences.
The study estimated that 3.1% of people gambling between 8am-10pm had severe gambling problems, increasing to 7.3% between 10pm-12am, 12.1% between 12am-2am and 22.6% between 2am-8am. A further 41.8% of gamblers playing between 2am-8am were classified as moderate risk of gambling problems.
The Government will consider the report findings as part of its package of gaming reforms and has already committed an additional $10 million in annual funding to the Responsible Gambling Fund to deliver programs to prevent and reduce gambling harms.
Full report: Impact of Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) Late Night Play on EGM Player Behaviours PDF, 1379.72 KB
