Gamblor’s World

Author: Taylor, Rob
Source: Reuters
Published Date: Jan 03, 2008

Description:
CANBERRA — Oscar-winning Australian actor Russell Crowe is fighting a new gladiatorial combat to wean his countrymen off their addiction to gambling machines. Crowe has become the public rally point for opposition to the ringing, flashing game consoles, known as “pokies,” that fatten the profits of Australian pubs and clubs, relieving gamblers of up to A$10 billion dollars ($8.8 billion) a year.

…….

“But it is Crowe who has galvanized public opposition, setting up “A club with no pokies” page on internet network site Facebook and printing thousands of t-shirts bearing his anti-gambling message for the community around his South Sydney Rabbitohs club. ”

Article also states:

“More than 200,000 machines, or 21 percent of the world’s total, cram social venues across the country, chiming away in corners as they feed the gambling addiction of up to 300,000 people, according to frustrated welfare agencies.”

Author: Houston, Cameron
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Published Date: Jan 03, 2008

Description:
The poker machine industry escapes tough regulation because state governments are addicted to the billions sucked in every year from people with gambling problems, a study has found. Almost half the $10 billion lost on poker machines nationally is spent by NSW gamblers, and some states take about half their total gambling revenue from people with an addiction or the risk of one, the study found. Its authors, Charles Livingstone of Monash University and Richard Woolley from the University of Western Sydney, are scathing about the states’ regulation of the national poker machine industry.

continued at

The full case is at

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2007/1503.html?query=^Behrouz%20Foroughi

Whether Mr Foroughi is a pathological gambler

105 Mr Foroughi called evidence from Mr Ross Colquhoun, a clinical psychologist, to support his case. Mr Colquhoun saw Mr Foroughi on 2 and 9 November 2006 and, with the assistance of a colleague, took a history and administered a series of psychological tests.

106 Mr Colquhoun concluded that Mr Foroughi met the diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling stipulated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed text revision, American Psychiatric Association Washington, 2000) (”DSM-IV”).

107 Mr Colquhoun went on to say that the essential feature of pathological gambling is persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behaviour that negatively affects personal, family and vocational functioning. In his view, Mr Foroughi suffers from this disorder, which he said is synonymous with other addictions. He stated that neuroscientific evidence indicates that, over time, pathological gamblers suffer from long-lasting structural changes to the brain with reduced capacity to make rational decisions to cease gambling.

108 Star City’s expert psychologist, Professor Blaszczynski was, until recently, the Head of the Department of Medical Psychology at Westmead Hospital . Since December 2006 he has been a full time academic, holding the Chair in Psychology at the University of Sydney . His curriculum vitae reveals a high level of specialised knowledge in the area of problem gambling in which he has written and worked extensively.

109 Professor Blaszczynski agreed that the essential feature of pathological gambling is persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behaviour. He also agreed that Mr Foroughi demonstrated five of the ten diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling under DSM-IV, a number consistent with the disorder’s diagnosis.

110 Although Mr Foroughi met five of the formal criteria stated in DSM-IV, Professor Blaszczynski expressed the clinical opinion that he is more correctly described as a problem gambler than a pathological gambler. Professor Blaszczynski came to this view principally because Mr Foroughi did not exhibit an important feature accepted as indicating impaired control, namely repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back or cease gambling. Professor Blaszczynski expanded on his views in a second report dated 21 August 2006.

111 In my view, Professor Blaszczynski’s opinion is amply supported by the evidence. In particular:

• Mr Foroughi agreed that he told Professor Blaszczynski that he did not make any repeated genuine or concerted efforts to address his gambling problem.

• Mr Foroughi was given a package of information listing problem gambling services that were available at the time when the exclusion order was made yet he did not go to any of those services.

• Mr Foroughi understood on 18 May 2004 that he was undertaking to the casino to seek the assistance of a qualified gambling counsellor but he did not do so. He accepted that, apart from seeking expert evidence for these proceedings, he did not seek the assistance of a recognised and qualified problem gambling counsellor.

112 Senior counsel for Mr Foroughi made a strenuous attack upon Professor Blaszczynski’s evidence. He suggested that Professor Blaszczynski should have treated Mr Foroughi ’s prayers to cease gambling as indicating active steps to overcome his gambling problems. In my opinion, Professor Blaszczynski was correct to reject this suggestion.

113 Professor Blaszczynski concluded that Mr Foroughi ’s gambling was not motivated by a desire to escape problems or relieve dysphoric moods; his gambling was motivated by excitement and a desire to win, not to prevent or reduce distress or some dreaded event.

114 These conclusions were supported by statements made by Mr Foroughi to Professor Blaszczynski. In particular, Mr Foroughi told Professor Blaszczynski that he was motivated to gamble because he found the activity exciting and it provided him with an opportunity to win and recoup losses.

115 Professor Blaszczynski was an impressive witness and I accept his evidence in preference to the views of Mr Colquhoun. Whilst I thought Mr Colquhoun was doing his best to assist the Court, I have taken into account the relative experience and learning of both expert witnesses.

116 Professor Blaszczynski’s curriculum vitae contains a compelling statement of his expertise. He has received awards for his contributions to research on pathological gambling, as well as a large number of grants to carry out studies in this field. He has also published widely in the area.

117 I reject Mr Laughton’s attack on Professor Blaszczynski that “there is no evidence of the extent of his clinical experience.” The Professor’s curriculum vitae is ample testament to his clinical experience.

118 Indeed, Mr Colquhoun’s experience in the field of problem gambling is relatively slight. He says his expertise is in “addictions generally” with a main focus on drugs and alcohol. There is little in his curriculum vitae that specifically relates to problem or pathological gambling. His experience appears to be limited to some work he did in the area of gambling for the Department of Corrective Services approximately 10 years ago and in oral evidence he stated:

“I have seen a number of gamblers over time and treated them…and I’ve written a number of reports…mainly regarding the criminal activity attached to gambling.”

119 Even if I were to accept that Mr Foroughi is a pathological gambler, Professor Blaszczynski’s evidence is that such persons can exercise control and limit or cease gambling if they choose to do so. I accept this opinion which is supported by Mr Foroughi ’s own evidence that he felt able to keep away from the casino without professional assistance and, indeed, that he had been able to do so for a period of six months prior to seeing Mr Colquhoun.

Article from:
LUCY HOOD

July 07, 2007

UP to 10 Skycity employees are believed to have been suspended after
being linked to an Internet site which attacks the casino as an
unsafe workplace.

It is understood the employees were listed as “friends” on the
www.myspace. com/skyshitty site, which alleges casino staff have been
injured by faulty equipment and are forced to work in unsafe
conditions.

The Advertiser was contacted yesterday by a 25-year-old male employee
who admitted running the site.

The man, who is known under the alias “Money Monster”, wished to
remain anonymous. He said the site was the second he had set up after
the first was shut down.

“Staff have been cut, burnt and another guy was shocked by a faulty
machine,” he said.

“During the employee induction, the food and beverage attendants are
told to keep customers at a ‘happy drunk level’ so that they don’t
feel bad about losing money.”

The man said he was also forced by a manager to incorrectly fill out
a document which was supposed to record food temperatures in one of
the casino’s restaurants.

“A health report, which should have stated the temperature of our
food for the last six months, hadn’t been filled out so he just told
me to write in ‘random numbers’,” he said.

Money Monster said they have now removed all “friends” from the site
in an effort to protect their jobs.

Skycity marketing general manager Tamsyn Alley said the
allegations “are not factually correct”.

Letter, Saturday, June 02, 2007, Vancouver Sun

Part of the problem with the B.C. Lottery Corp. is the people running it: Fire the top echelon and start over.

Take a tip from Australia. There, you can buy a registration card, which, when presented with your lottery submission, will register the ticket(s) in your name only. This costs $2 a year. Further, if your ticket is a winner and has not been claimed within two weeks, a cheque for the winning amount will be sent to you at the address on your registration card. So tickets lost, stolen or put through the washing machine are no longer a worry.

I lived in Western Australia for quite a few years, and I would occasionally get a cheque in the mail for a winning ticket that I thought I had checked, but obviously hadn’t.

Barry MacKay, Tahsis

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

© 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

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http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21745205-5006301,00.html

CRAIG BILDSTIEN
May 17, 2007 02:15am
Adelaide Advertiser

GAMING venues will lose their loyalty programs and be forced to pull down most of their signs under tough new reforms to be unveiled today.

The Independent Gambling Authority will announce sweeping changes to gaming codes of practice, with most to be implemented by Christmas.

It also will recommend the State Government slashes trading hours by a third and bans Keno sales at supermarkets, pharmacies, newsagents and other non-licensed premises.

In a 120-page report to be released today, the authority recommends hotels and clubs only be allowed to open gaming rooms from 10am to midnight on weekdays and until 2am on weekends.

The proposed restrictions are more severe than those sought by Adelaide’s Heads of Christian Churches Gambling Taskforce, which asked for a ban on poker machines being played before 9am. Gaming venues can open for up to 18 hours a day.

Hotels earned $687.4 million and clubs $63.5 million from poker machines last financial year.

The authority intends to:

BAN loyalty programs offering discounted or free meals and drinks, household appliances and other gifts. “It is clear that inducements to gambling cause some people to make poor decisions about when and where to gamble, and for how long,” its report says.

SCREEN gaming venues so that “sights and sounds” are not visible or audible outside the room.

IMPOSE strict new limitations on signage, both inside and outside the venue.

INSIST on mandatory new warning messages in all gaming advertisements.

RELOCATE automatic coin dispensers so they are directly supervised by gaming staff. “A concern which has been raised about machines is that they enable a problem gambler to avoid human contact for an extended period of time,” the report says.

REQUIRE venues to develop formal alliances with gambling counselling services.

DEMAND venues develop new systems to identify and report potential problem gamblers.

PROHIBIT venues from linking alcohol sales to gaming rooms.

The report will also ask the Government to prohibit the Lotteries Commission from using under 18-year-olds to sell lottery products.

While it expresses concern about evidence given to its 16-month inquiry that gamblers had been served alcohol while intoxicated, the IGA stops short of recommending a mandatory road safety standard, such as .05, be introduced in gaming venues.

The authority’s reforms can only be disallowed by Parliament.

In an unusual decision, the authority has chosen to offer some exemptions to venues which sign up to new early intervention programs Gaming Care and Club Safe initiated by the Australian Hotels Association and Clubs SA. The authority does not have the power to enforce shorter trading hours, ban Keno from non-licensed premises or restrict lottery product sales from adults only, but has urged Gaming Minister Paul Caica to introduce legislation.

It rejected the need for longer gaming hours to accommodate shift workers.

“The authority does not accept that there is a special case to be made for the gambling entertainment option to be made available to shift workers whose recreation time notionally started at or after midnight,” the report says.

However, it reveals that the decision was not unanimous, but was the recommendation of “a substantial majority” of the seven-member board.

The authority has criticised compliance with current codes of practice, saying the industry has “not universally and whole-heartedly” embraced the spirit of the rules.

“There were examples of unacceptable conduct of licensed premises presented in the course of hearings for this inquiry,” it says.

The report says the number of problem gamblers using poker machines in SA at any one time could be as high as “one in five”.

The authority, required to review codes of practice every two years, is also currently evaluating the impact of the Government’s 2004 amendments to gaming legislation, including the forced reduction of poker machine numbers.

full article at: http://www.responsiblegambling.org/staffsearch/latest_news_articles_details.cfm?intID=10175
Author: Willcocks, Paul
Source: Victoria Times Colonist
Published: May 13, 07

Full Document:
CANADA – The government’s hypocrisy on gambling is showing again. It’s obvious that the Liberals have smashed their 2001 campaign promise to “halt the expansion of gambling that has increased gambling addiction and put new strains on families.”
Instead they expanded gambling wildly. They’ve done all the things they warned about as evils — adding slots, pushing them into smaller communities like Duncan and Campbell River, lifting betting limits and hours, allowing alcohol and ATMs in casinos so people could make bad decisions and then get the cash to follow them up. And, on top of all that, the government launched Internet gambling.

What made it all especially offensive was that in opposition Gordon Campbell and the Liberals said they knew the consequences of gambling — debt, families in crisis, suicides, increased crime. Even domestic violence and murder, according to Liberal Kevin Krueger.

continued ….

Back in 2004, Sue Reid, a Surrey nurse with a keen interest in gambling issues, submitted a request for the material B.C. Lotteries used to train casino staff in dealing with distressed and problem gamblers.

It’s a secret, the Crown corporation said, a pretty good warning sign that all is not right.

After a long battle Reid got the material. It showed that troubled gamblers usually don’t get much help in casinos — a brochure and reference to a toll-free help line.

And it confirmed casino staff often have to deal with gamblers who are angry, emotional and losing all their money. They see people making repeated trips to ATMs as they try to win back mounting losses. They even see people who wear diapers so they won’t have to give up a slot machine they think might pay off.

But 85 per cent of casino employees surveyed in 2004 — well into the gambling expansion — said it was up to the gamblers to find help. No wonder the government is finally increasing funding for gambling addicts and adding counsellors.

Gambling is a tricky business to manage, too. You would think if the government was going to be in the business, it would be running a tight ship.

But last month Australia’s biggest gambling operator and a bank based (see ED. note below) there combined to buy Gateway Casinos, which has seven casinos in B.C.

An Australian paper reported the bank liked the opportunity because B.C. was one of the only places in the world that offered casino operators a “free ride.”
“A very nice kicker to this whole transaction is a dynamic that has been set up at the government level, whereby any capital expenditure you spend on your casinos is refunded by the government,” a bank spokesman said.

“So there is, specific to this region of the world, a very attractive environment for a casino operator.” Casinos that want to upgrade to capture more of gamblers’ money usually pay the costs. In B.C., taxpayers take the hit.

No wonder the Liberals used to think it was a good idea to steer clear of the gambling business.

ED note:

from http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/04/business/sxcasino.php
James Packer’s Publishing and Broadcasting, Australia’s biggest casino owner, agreed to buy gambling venues in Canada for 1.37 billion Canadian dollars, or $1.2 billion, in its first foray into North America.

Packer, Australia’s richest man, joined with Macquarie Bank to buy Gateway Casinos Income Fund, a casino operator in Western Canada, for 886 million dollars, according to a statement made Wednesday. The venture will also acquire two closely held casino managers run by the Burnaby, British Columbia-based company.

For more information about Macquarie infrastructure holdings in Canada see:

http://www.macquarie.com.au/au/corporations/sfpc/meap/overview.htm

Author:
Source: ABC News
Published Date: May 16, 2007

Full Document:
NEW SOUTH WALES – The New South Wales Government says new technology that allows cashless winning from poker machines could be used to identify problem gamblers.
The new ‘Ticket In, Ticket Out’ machines force poker machine players to move away from the machine to collect their winnings.

Gaming Minister Graham West says data collected from the tickets could be used to study gambling.

“[It can help] identify the habits of people who are problem gamblers, so that we can work with them to reduce that problem,” he said.

continued ….

By Shelley Hodgson

May 19, 2007 01:00am, news.com.au

A CONFESSED pathological gambler lost more than $20 million in real estate as his addiction ran out of control, a court has heard.

Joseph William Wells, 56, was a member of Crown casino’s exclusive Mahogany Room.

Records showed he exchanged $3.5 million for gambling chips between 2003 and 2005 alone.

Wells, a father of three, pleaded guilty to two offences under the Corporations Act yesterday.

Representing himself in court, Mr Wells claimed he was seduced by the casino with free trips and accommodation and his gambling spiralled out of control as he splashed out on poker machines, gaming tables and horse races.

He sold 20 homes, blocks of land, units, an office complex and factories to feed his gambling addiction over 15 years.

Mr Wells also ended up losing an Italian restaurant in Port Douglas and the family’s Mt Eliza home was recently repossessed.

Mr Wells is bankrupt.

“I couldn’t start to put a monetary figure on costs to our family,” he said.

continued ….

Please find information attached regarding the forthcoming community-sector
gambling conference, “Who’s Taking Responsibility for Gambling Harm?”,
proudly presented by Council of Gambler’s Help Services and the City of
Yarra (Melbourne, Australia).

The conference will take place between 25th and 27th June, at Richmond Town
Hall (not Fitzroy Town Hall as previously advised). The themes to be
addressed include:
- clinical interventions and treatment
- public health, community development and education
- policy and advocacy

Keynote speakers are:
Dr Michael Walker - Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Sydney, and
author of “The Psychology of Gambling”
Dr James Doughney - Author of ‘The Poker Machine State: dilemmas in ethics,
economics and governance’ and convenor of Pokiesaction.org
Dr David Hodgins - Professor, Department of Psychology, University of
Calgary (Canada)
Tracey Schrans - Vice President of Focal Research (Canada), internationally
recognised for her research on gambling behaviour, applied consumer research
and responsible gaming
A full conference program will be available shortly.

We are now taking registrations. Early registrations (before May 31st)
receive a discount, so please complete the attached form soon and return by
email (an invoice will be issued), or post with payment to PO Box 138, North
Melbourne 3051, Australia.

*** We will be grateful if you forward this information to your community
sector networks ***