Report calls for national action on gambling in Australia

Australian states and territories have failed to curtail problem gambling as they rely on the industry for revenue, a new report said on Friday.

Australia should establish a national gambling regulator that would set poker machine quotas, bet limits and other initiatives, said the report, by academics Linda Hancock and Michael O'Neil.

The report has suggested a national not-for-profit lottery be created to wean the states off the billions of dollars' worth of poker machine revenue they receive each year.

This would be augmented by money from a two percent levy on the gambling industry, which the report estimated would generate an extra 378 million dollars (351.9 million U.S. dollars) annually.

Hancock, an associate professor at Deakin University, said problem gambling has been a serious health risk.

"This whole approach ... needs to be a central plank in the Rudd government's health plan," Hancock told Australian Associated Press.

"Where is the preventative health? In Victoria, one in five suicide attempts presenting to emergency services at The Albert hospital (are) gambling related."

Independent senator Nick Xenophon, who spoke at the launch of the report on Friday, said hundreds of thousands of Australians were adversely impacted by gambling each year.

The senator has also called on the government to release, and act upon, the Productivity Commission's report on gambling.

The draft report recommended poker machine bets be restricted to 1 Australian dollars (93 U.S. cents) per play, and cash withdrawal limits should be placed on ATMs located near the machines.

The report showed Australians have lost 18 billion dollars (16. 76 billion U.S. dollars) a year on gambling, and about 15 percent of Australians gambled regularly, excluding games like lotto and scratchies.

About 10 percent of regular gamblers were problem gamblers. Of them, an estimated 125,000 were serious problem gamblers and 165, 000 were considered to be at moderate risk.

Source: Xinhua