Everybody knows that problem gambling, just like binge drinking and illicit drugs, destroys lives. There were no surprises in last week's Productivity Commission report on gambling, which found that 15 per cent of regular poker machine players are problem gamblers, and contribute about 40 per cent of spending on poker machines.
Governments appear slow to implement measures to reduce its incidence, possibly because they are as addicted to gambling revenue as problem gamblers are to gambling. Last year, the NSW and Victorian governments pocketed $1.6 billion each from gambling revenue.
Undoubtedly there are very good arguments for governments to lessen their reliance on gambling revenues. But should they be aiming to eliminate gambling altogether, as they are with smoking?
The Australian Jesuit Michael Kelly thinks not. He recently criticised so-called wowsers who were urging a ban on betting on the World Cup. He called the 'wowser' view Calvinistic, meaning that it regards gambling as evil in itself. For his part, gambling is a pleasure that must be pursued judiciously within a controlled environment.
He says: 'If you're like me, a modest punter, it's fun: a bit of mental stimulation/distraction, the equivalent of the satisfaction others find in crosswords; if you're like me, it's the occasion for socialising with friends gathered about a common interest.'
Gambling, he says, has traditionally been about speculating on an outcome and being prepared to back your judgement with money or its equivalent.
But such good-natured pursuit of pleasure has been corrupted and manipulated by its organisation on an industrial scale by often unscrupulous operators. These individuals are prepared to exploit the vulnerabilities of members of the public with addictive personalities, to feed their own addictions to the accumulation of wealth.
Efforts to control gambling should not be be focused on the demonisation of gambling itself, but in reining in the practices of unscrupulous operators of casinos and other venues who prey on their patrons, who they regard as fodder.
The Productivity Commission has suggested control measures, and organisations such as UnitingCare have highlighted them. UnitingCare National Director Susan Helyar urges the Federal Government to act immediately to reduce poker machine harm by (i) setting the maximum loss to $1 per button push and $120 per hour, (ii) limiting venue opening hours, and (iii) banning ATMs at venues.
The unscrupulous players who run the gambling industry prefer the value-neutral term 'gaming' to the demonising 'gambling'. So do modest punters. But games only thrive when the