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THE PREVALENCE OF PROBLEM GAMBLING

- The prevalence of problem gambling in the population was 1.0 percent for men and 0.1 percent for women (0.5 percent overall). The vast majority of people (99.2 percent) were classified as “non-problem gamblers”.

- Prevalence was somewhat higher among younger age groups, highest among young men aged 16-24, 25-34 and 35-44.

- The most common gambling problem was “chasing losses”: 6.8 percent of men and 2.9 percent of women reported having done so in the last 12 months.

There have been a number of “problem gambling” surveys conducted around the world in the past few years from which the Survey offered the following summary:

The problem gambling rate ranges from 0.2 percent of the population in Norway, through to 5.3 percent of the population of Hong Kong. The problem gambling prevalence rate in Britain is similar to that of Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland. The rate is higher than Norway and lower than South Africa, the U.S., Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong. There has not been a national survey in Australia since 1999, when the ... prevalence rate was 2.1 percent. More recent regional studies ... found prevalence rates of Queensland: 0.83 percent (2005); Victoria: 0.97 percent (2003); Tasmania: 0.73 percent (2005) and Northern Territory: 0.64 percent (2005).

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