Social impacts of gambling in Australia

The unprecedented growth and expansion of gambling in Australia in the last two decades – particularly casino gambling and machine gambling – have been accompanied by a range of impacts, both social and economic. This chapter provides an overview of these and notes that, in Australia, most attention has been given to one particular social impact of gambling - problem gambling and its associated costs. Given its dominance in current policy debates in Australia, problem gambling is the major focus of this chapter on the social impacts of gambling. After identifying what problem gambling is and the range of impacts it has, the chapter explains why it has emerged as an important social issue in Australia, and details the range of remedies that governments and gambling providers have pursued. Following a public health approach to problem gambling, many gambling providers have implemented a variety of responsible gambling measures to improve harm minimisation and consumer protection in gambling. This chapters identifies these measures and some opportunities and challenges facing gambling providers in implementing these and in achieving outcomes that effectively address problem gambling.