Last Update: Thursday, February 2, 2006. 8:15am (AEDT)

ABCNewsonline

Fed Govt called on to ban SMS gambling

The Federal Government is being urged to clamp down on a new scheme in which people can bet by sending SMS messages on their mobile phones.

An Adelaide-based company known as 'txt2-bet' is encouraging punters to sign onto their plan which allows users to place bets on racing and sports events 24 hours a day.

South Australian 'No Pokies' MP Nick Xenophon has written to the Commonwealth demanding amendments to the Interactive Gambling Act to stop the scheme.

Mr Xenophon says text message betting is likely to put more young people at risk of becoming problem gamblers.

"The promoters of this scheme in their own information on their website, talk about 24 hours a day, seven days a week punting," he said.

"That you can place a bet while you are at work or at a family gathering, I think indicates that it will lead to more problem gambling."

Push to pull the plug on pokies after midnight
By LAURA ANDERSON
01feb06

Adelaide Advertiser

POKIES venues would be banned from operating beyond midnight under a proposed Private Member's Bill.

No Pokies MLC Nick Xenophon has proposed a Bill that only allows poker machines rooms to open from midday to midnight. He said pokie venues that remained open until the early hours of the morning made a "massive windfall off the backs of problem gamblers".

"My first preference is to have them closed 24 hours a day, but this will at least be a significant step in the right direction," Mr Xenophon said yesterday.

"All the evidence points to the early hours after midnight or the early hours of the morning as having an incredibly high level of problem gambling.

"The hours combined with alcohol are a potent mix for fuelling gambling addiction."

University of Adelaide senior psychology lecturer and gambling researcher, Dr Paul Delfabbro, said venues that operated until the early morning "prey upon people when they are least likely to be able to make a clear decision". "A lot of problem gamblers I have encountered tend to chase losses into the early hours of the morning," he said.

Gambling Minister Michael Wright said the Independent Gambling Authority was reviewing the first round of Codes of Practice, which he added included prohibiting serving of alcohol to persons playing gaming machines. A second round of codes was under consideration, including mandatory breaks in play and common closing times, he said.

Opposition gambling spokesman Robert Brokenshire said there was "community concern about the extended opening hours" and wanted further research by the IGA on whether longer opening hours contributed to problem gambling.

Knox Leader
Edition 1 -TUE 24 JAN 2006, Page 015
City adopts hard
line on gambling

KNOX Council has vowed to continue its tough stand on gambling in light of a recent $485,000 community advocacy boost.
The council says it will keep rejecting new applications for pokie venues and any bid to boost machine numbers.
It will also push for money to re-establish the Gamblers Help Eastern Rowville service, which was forced to close in 2003 because of a funding shortfall, as well as others in the area.
It comes as the State Government announced this month it would inject $485,000 into a new Community Advocacy on Responsible Gambling project.
Based at the Victorian Local Governance Association's Carlton office, the project will run until 2008 and give community groups a stronger voice on licensing reviews and other gambling issues.
Figures show Knox punters spent almost $84 million on the area's poker machines last financial year.
It was the 13th-highest municipality for player losses 20 per cent higher than the state average with 116 residents joining Gamblers Help the previous financial year.
VLGA chief executive officer Andrew Rowe said the project would employ a full-time manager and part-time researcher.
Community Action on Pokie Problems convener Mike Hill welcomed the project, saying councils and community groups had been locked out of decision-making in past years.
* If you need help with a gambling problem, phone Gamblers Help Eastern (Maroondah) on 1300 131 973.

Moonee Valley Leader
Edition 1 -MON 30 JAN 2006, Page 003
Cut pokies load call
By Andrew Miller

A LEADING Victorian problem gambling advocate has urged the State Government to act on a review into electronic gaming machines.
Moonee Valley Council sought a reduction of 122 poker machines in the city in its submission to the Government's Regional Electronic Gaming Machine Caps review.
The council's submission found Melbourne's northwest municipalities were overburdened by electronic gaming machines, with a greater share of machines and losses per adult.
Community Action on Pokie Problems convener Mike Hill said he wanted to know when the review would surface.
``We believe it should have surfaced by now and we'd like to know where it is and why it's not emerging,'' he said.
Mr Hill said he believed the report was now with State Cabinet.
``I believe the minister was keen on the recommendations, some of them quite strong, affording more protection to areas being most devastated by gambling,'' he said.
``We thought it was a very fair and comprehensive review.
``It definitely took into account the devastation wrought on some of the most vulnerable communities and it was leading to a much stronger local government role in gambling than existed in the past.''
Report author, Bentleigh Labor state MP Rob Hudson, said it had been handed to the Government late last year.
``We are just waiting for Government to respond to the report but the minister was very positive about it,'' the MP said.
Mr Hudson said the review committee considered the Moonee Valley submission in making recommendations to the Government.
Peter Scott, a spokesman for Gambling Minister John Pandazopoulos said the Government was still looking to release the report in the early part of this year.
Gambler's Help Western co-ordinator Amanda Jones said she agreed with the organisation's peak body, the Council of Gamblers Help Services, that there should be a significant redistribution of machines across the state.
``Some of the most vulnerable areas in the community have the largest concentration of machines,'' she said.
``We don't believe caps alone are sufficient to address the problem.''

INTERNATIONAL

Feb 1, 2006 12:41 am US/Central

Study: New Pill Could Help Pathological Gambling

WCCO.COM

(WCCO) Researchers at the University of Minnesota said a new pill showed promising results in treating pathological gambling.

Researchers said participants who received the medication reported "significant improvement in gambling urges, thoughts and behaviors." According to the researchers, the study was the first large study to show these results.

More than 200 participants in 15 outpatient centers throughout the United States participated in the trial.

Researchers said the drug was an opiate blocker that affects the part of the brain associated with addictive behavior.

Participants in the study were placed into two groups. One group received a placebo and the second group took the pill, nalmefene, each day in varying doses throughout a four-month period.

The research was sponsored by a Finnish biotherapy company, BioTie Therapies, who is the manufacturer of nalmefene.

The Food and Drug Administration has not approved the oral form of the drug.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Gambling Act enforcement costing tens of millions in community grants

Doing little, if anything, for the problem gambler

National Business Review - NZ

The government today celebrated a continuing decline in the numbers of gaming machines, operators and venues as proof that the Gambling Act was working -- but the Charity Gaming Association said the cost of that "success" was the loss of tens of millions of dollars in grants to community groups.

According to Internal Affairs Department Deputy Secretary, Andrew Secker, an important purpose of the Gambling Act 2003 is reducing the numbers of operators, venues and gaming machines.

In the year to December 31, 2005, he said, there were 10 per cent fewer operators, almost six per cent fewer venues and a four per cent drop in the number of gaming machines.

But, he said, operators still gave out record amounts of money to community purposes in both 2003-04 and 2004-05, around $300 million in each year.

Francis Wevers, CGA chief executive, disputes that, saying funds available for community purposes are in sharp decline.

Estimates derived from a CGA survey of grant distributions made by charitable trusts during the last quarter of 2005 shows that nearly $70 million was distributed to community groups and other recipients between 1 October and 31 December, he said, but that figure was. $12 million down from the $81 million distributed during the same period in 2004.

More, declining gaming revenues were being siphoned off at the tap into expensive new requirements.

"Our survey suggests that total proceeds from gaming during the three months -- turnover less winnings -- was down over $41 million dollars on the same period in 2004. This reduction followed a reduction of similar size, $39 million, recorded in the third quarter from July to September," he said.

The drop wasn't just biting into community groups, he suggested, but the government's revenue stream, as well.

"A consequence of the reduction in proceeds is that payments to the government of Gaming Duty, GST, Problem Gambling levies and fees have also declined.

"Our survey shows the effect of this may be as high as $26 million over the last six months of 2005," he said.

Mr Wevers said gaming machine numbers have reduced by approximately 6 per cent since the same time last year and  there has been a significant reduction in the number of corporate societies operating gaming machines in pubs and hotels -- but there was no evidence any of the changes were helping problem gamblers.

"One of the reasons for this reduction is the imposition by government of measures intended to assist problem gamblers.

"The cost to the community of multiple initiatives to reduce problem gambling is estimated to be $230 million over the next three years - $180 million in forgone grants and $50 million in problem gambling levy payments," he said. 

"A number of new initiatives, like mandatory player information displays, which will cost further millions to implement by 2009, have little or no fact-based evidence to show they do anything to reduce the causes which turn some people into problem gamblers," he said.

"In fact, recently published research from Nova Scotia, shows mandatory player information displays have little or no discernible impact on problem gambler behaviour.

The reach of the regulatory effort has become so broad, he said, it is having the unintended consequence of interfering with legitimate, recreational gambler.

To avoid that outcome, he said, the government should impose only those requirements that had been proven to work.

"Recent research completed in Australia by the New South Wales Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal found that some responsible gambling measures 'can have unintended consequences for recreational gamblers' and recommended an evidence based assessment of the effectiveness of existing measures.

"The CGA enthusiastically supports responsibility in gambling and equally supports New Zealanders' right to make free choices in their entertainment.

"When measures are imposed on the gaming sector without previous consideration of possible unintended consequences - as well as intended ones - then perhaps the measures are at fault and not the people they're aimed at," he said.

And while the IRD is celebrating the loss of venues and operators -- Mr Secker said the trend was toward "consolidation" -- many of the venues forced out were small operations in locations where consolidation was not an option.

"An obvious consequence of the changes is that small rural, provincial and club venues, which can only support a small number of machines, are being closed because they are no longer viable under the tight financial and compliance constraints imposed by the government.

"The changes, made with the intention of reducing problem gambling, also remove opportunities for recreational gamblers in those communities to raise funds for community purposes through gaming," he said.

Mr Secker said the drop in the number of operators was most significant in the non-club sector, which saw pub-based operators decline by a third, from 120 at June 2003 to 80 at December 2005.

“We think there is room for more consolidation in the pub-based sector.

"Fewer operators should mean that overall costs go down, because there are fewer fees and salaries to pay, fewer offices, cars, computers, phones and faxes to pay for, and so on.

"When the number of operators drops, the remaining operators benefit from economies of scale.

"The average number of venues for each pub-based operator grew from under 13 to more than 16 between June 2003 and December 2005.

"Reducing costs in this way could maintain a good return to the community even if the amount players spend on the machines is reduced," he said.

In spite of claims from the IRD that funds for community purposes are still available from a still healthy gaming sector, Mr Wevers says the real picture is one in which there will be even greater unsatisfied demand on the money available from charitable trusts and increased pressure on local and central government for replacement funding.

The next step in gaming machine regulation, a universal electronic monitoring system, is a case in point, he said, demonstrating not only pointless regulation but imposing great costs.

"Between now and March 2007 many millions of dollars will be spent ensuring all suitable venues are capable of being hooked up to the government mandated electronic monitoring system. This is money which also inevitably comes out of the pool of money which is available for distribution to the community," said Mr Wevers.

Mr Secker agreed that the Gambling Act had led to a decline in revenues but said "the degree to which this is reflected in reduced payouts for community purposes, if at all, will depend on how successfully gaming machine operators minimise their costs.”

Less cases of problem gambling reported

Posted at 6:01am on 26 Jan 2006

Radio NewZealand

Experts on problem gambling say they're seeing less cases.

New figures also show spending on gaming machines has dropped for the first time in 10 years.

Statistics from the Department of Internal Affairs show a small decline in the overall amount people are spending on gambling, mainly on pokies in pubs and clubs.

Spending on the main forms of gambling in the last financial year fell by just under 1%, to just over $2.027 billion.

Internal Affairs says attributes the decline to the introduction of tighter gambling regulations and the impact of the smoke-free legislation.

The new figures are described by John Stansfield from the Problem Gambling Foundation as historic. He says foodbanks and other social service providers have told him they're seeing a drop in the number of cases related to problem gamblers.

Dr Sean Sullivan, who counsels problem gamblers, has also seen a decline client numbers. But he advises caution until a downward trend has been established.