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The Identification of Low-risk Gambling Limits for Specific Gambling Activities

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Abstract

An emerging literature has identified optimal low-risk gambling limits in an effort to reduce gambling-related harm. Concerns have, however, been raised about the construction of aggregate low-risk limits that are applied to all gambling activities and there is support from gambling experts and the general public in Australia for the identification of low-risk limits for specific gambling activities. The study’s aim was to identify and evaluate a set of empirically-based activity-specific limits (gambling frequency, gambling expenditure, gambling expenditure as a proportion of gross personal income, session expenditure, session duration) in a secondary analysis of Social and Economic Impact Studies of Gambling in Tasmania and the 2014 Survey on Gambling, Health and Wellbeing in the ACT. Balancing sensitivity and specificity, limits were identified for all gambling activities: EGMs (10 times per year, AUD$300/year, 0.63–1.04% of personal income, AUD$35 per session, 40 min/session), horse/dog racing (0.55% of personal income), instant scratch tickets (AUD$45/year), lotteries (0.45% of personal income), keno (4–13 times/year, AUD$45–$160/year), casino table games (AUD$345/year, 0.36–0.76% of personal income), bingo (AUD$150/year, 0.49% of personal income, AUD$17/session, 90 min/session), and sports/other event betting (14 times/year, AUD$400/year, 0.55–0.86% of personal income). These limits were exceeded by one-quarter to one-half of gamblers on these specific activities and were generally good predictors of gambling-related harm in subgroups of gamblers participating in these gambling activities and in the overall gambling sample. The limits provide gamblers, regulators, prevention workers, and researchers with simple rules of thumb in prevention efforts to reduce gambling-related harm in specific contexts.

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Funding

Funding for this study was received from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation Grants for Gambling Research Program (Round 6). The study involved secondary analyses of data collected for the second and third Social and Economic Impact Study of Gambling in Tasmania, which was funded by the Tasmanian Government Department of Treasury and Finance, and the ACT 2014 Survey on Gambling, Health and Wellbeing in the ACT, which was funded by the Australian Capital Territory Gambling and Racing Commission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, 3220, Australia

    N. A. Dowling, G. J. Youssef, C. Greenwood & S. S. Merkouris

  2. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    N. A. Dowling

  3. Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia

    G. J. Youssef & C. Greenwood

  4. Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia

    A. Suomi

  5. Institute of Child Protection Studies, The Australian Catholic University, Watson, ACT, 2612, Australia

    A. Suomi

  6. Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    R. Room

  7. Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    R. Room

Authors
  1. N. A. Dowling
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  2. G. J. Youssef
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  3. C. Greenwood
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  4. S. S. Merkouris
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  5. A. Suomi
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  6. R. Room
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. A. Dowling.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to this article. The 3-year declaration of interest statement of this research team is as follows: ND, GY, SM, AS and RR have received funding from multiple sources, including government departments and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation (through hypothecated taxes from gambling revenue). ND and SM have also received funding from the International Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG), a charitable organization, which derives its funding from through contributions from multiple stakeholder groups (with funding decisions the responsibility of an independent scientific advisory board).  ND is the recipient of a Deakin University Faculty of Health Mid-Career Fellowship. SM is the recipient of a New South Wales Office of Responsible Gambling Postdoctoral Fellowship and has formerly been the Victorian state representative (unpaid) on the NAGS Executive Committee. RR’s position has been funded for grants by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. None of the authors have knowingly received research funding from the gambling, tobacco, or alcohol industries or any industry-sponsored organisation.

Ethical Approval

Each existing dataset was approved by Human Research Ethics Committees (University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee [1340411, 1135477.1]; Australian National University Human Research Ethics Committee [2014/580]).

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Dowling, N.A., Youssef, G.J., Greenwood, C. et al. The Identification of Low-risk Gambling Limits for Specific Gambling Activities. J Gambl Stud 38, 559–590 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10036-z

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