Australia launches research center to review gambling addiction

A new center for gambling research in Adelaide of Australia will play a key role in developing a national response to problem gambling, director said on Tuesday.

The Flinders Center for Gambling Research Director Malcolm Battersby said the center aimed to provide a better grasp of gambling habits and their effects on South Australians, helping to head off associated health, social and economic issues.

It will bring together research expertise from social work, public health, sociology and geography, to investigate and address the wider social and economic aspects of gambling.

"We already undertake some research, but there is an urgent need to quantify and define the extent and nature of broader gambling-related issues in our society," Professor Battersby said in a statement on Monday.

"The center will be part of the national research response, enabling us to devise a preventative approach at a population and public health level to the problems gambling can create."

The center's research will help to create an informed basis for future policy developments and industry standards, supporting the key objectives of the national framework on problem gambling.

Battersby said while problem gamblers represented a small proportion of the gambling public, the consequences of addiction often took a severe toll on partners, families and the community at large.

"Collateral damage from problem gambling can lead to relationship breakdowns, broken families and economic hardship that can include the loss of the family home," Battersby said.

The Flinders Center for Gambling Research will be launched on Tuesday and focus on all current forms of gambling, particularly online, which it said pose potential problems for the community.

Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia.

Source: Xinhua