An Australian-first study has found gamblers in poorer suburbs are losing more than three times the money to poker machines compared to gamblers in more advantaged areas.
Key points:
- The report found pokies were entrenching disadvantage in poorer areas
- It found on average adults were spending $1,000 more a year in poorer suburbs
- In the year long study researchers never saw staff at venues interrupt problem gambling
The Australian Centre for Gambling Research, which is funded by the Federal Government, compared losses on poker machines in two clusters of suburbs on opposite sides of Melbourne.
The centre found on average adults in the western suburbs around Sunshine lost about $1,400 per year compared to $400 in the eastern suburbs around Box Hill.
The gambling research centre hopes to get funding for similar studies in other areas of Australia and believes results in other cities would be similar.
In total, the more disadvantaged western cluster of suburbs lost $55 million last year on poker machines; the more affluent eastern cluster lost $18 million.
The study found the number of pokie venues and machines in the west outweighed those in the east eight to three.
Pokie venues in the west had children's play areas. Venues in the eastern suburbs did not.
Dr Angela Rintoul from the Australian Gambling Research Centre said the disproportionate levels of poker machines showed how gambling could entrench disadvantage.
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