The most recent Victorian Population Gambling Study, published last year, reveals that Victorians aged 18-24 are the group least likely to gamble. Only a modest 39.8% of these young people did so on average, compared to 53.3% of all adult Victorians.
Yet the rates of harmful gambling among this group are the highest across all age groups. Data from the survey provides evidence of a harmful pattern of gambling amongsyoung Victorians, requiring urgent action.
Overall gambling participation in Victoria has been declining since 2008, when nearly three-quarters of adults gambled at some level.
Different types of gambling have declined at different rates. Electronic gambling machines – EGMs, or poker machines – have gone from 21.5% to 10.7% since 2008, and lotteries from 47.5% to 37.6%. Casino gambling has stayed flat, at a little under 5%, and sports gambling has increased, from 4% in 2008 to 5% in 2023.
Not all gambling is the same
Different types of gambling can cause different levels of harm. Globally, experts agree that most harm is caused by high-speed, high-stakes gambling products, with EGMs at the top of the list, along with casino games and online sports betting. These are fast-paced, highly immersive, and often costly forms of gambling.
Recent Australian research tells us that about 52% or more of gambling problems stem from EGMs, about 20% from wagering (predominantly online), and another 10% from casino gambling. Lotteries account for well under 1% of problems.
Why are young people playing the #gambling machines? | ABC Radio Melbourne https://t.co/3vF7b0qRsg via @ABCaustralia
— Janne Nikkinen (@DocNikkinen) January 28, 2025
It’s unsurprising, then, that although the rate of serious problems associated with gambling across those who gamble is 1.7%, the rates for those gambling on EGMs and sports betting are much higher, at around 7%.
If we add into this the rates of those who experience any level of harm from gambling, about a third of EGM users and 40% of sports wagering users are experiencing problems from these types of gambling.
Unfortunately, as the 2023 study demonstrates, young people are much more likely to use these forms of gambling than any other age group.
The survey data demonstrates that 18 to 34-year-olds are about two-and-a-half times as likely to use EGMs as those aged 65 or more, 10 times more likely to gamble at the casino, and five times more likely to gamble on sports.
In contrast, older cohorts are much more likely to use lotteries or raffles than young people. Those aged 50 or over are five times more likely to buy lottery tickets than those aged 18-24.
This explains the higher gambling participation rates for older people. More of them may gamble, but they tend to do so using less harmful forms of gambling.
For these reasons, the rate of highly harmful gambling for gamblers aged 18-24 was 2.8%, the highest of any age cohort. Including all categories of risk (low, medium and high), nearly a third of young people 18-24 experienced gambling harm at some level. Again, this was higher than any other age cohort.
The other development that casts light on emerging sources of gambling harm is the growth of gambling since the end of the pandemic restrictions.
In 2018-19, Australians lost $24.1 billion gambling. In 202-23, after all pandemic restrictions were ended, that total had climbed to $32 billion in real terms (that is, adjusted for inflation). That was a jump of 8.7%.
Not all gambling grew at that rate, though. EGM losses went from $14.6 billion to $15.8 billion, growth of 7.6%.
However, wagering losses climbed from $5.8 billion to just under $9 billion, growth of 55%, again in real terms. As many have observed, wagering was boosted by the pandemic, and has emerged as a clear second to pokies as a source of gambling harm.
But pokies still rule the roost, with nearly half the total gambling losses in Australia.
Nonetheless, wagering grew from market share of just under 20%, to 28% in 2022-23.
The big loser from the pandemic (and their own malfeasance) were casinos, with revenue down by 35% to $3.6 billion in 2022-23, and market share down from 19% in 2018-19 to 11.3% in 2022-23.
So, what does all this tell us?
Young people don’t gamble as much as older people, but when they do, they tend to choose the most harmful gambling forms. This leads to higher rates of losses, and higher rates of harm.
It’s worth remembering that gambling harms are not trivial. They include financial catastrophe, loss of assets, damage to or loss of relationships, and separation and divorce, increased rates of crime, both financial and violent, including intimate partner violence, as well as mental and physical health problems, and in some cases suicide.
A 2023 study of suicide in Victoria using coronial data estimated the rate of gambling related suicide at 4.2% of the total, with the researchers concluding that this was certainly an underestimate.
Young people experience these harms at a greater rate than the general population because of the types of gambling they tend to use. This may be at least partly attributable to naivety and lack of experience.
But young people face extraordinary pressures, from the seeming impossibility of ever buying a home, to massive education costs, and the overarching threat, and reality, of climate change.
Numb to the addiction
High-intensity gambling has been developed to encourage immersion, and loss of control, and of rational decision-making, or, as gamblers call it, “the zone”. This induces a sense of relief and indeed comfort, and can be very effective at numbing daily stress.
Unfortunately, this comes at a high price. That’s why EGMs and sports betting are addictive. It’s also why EGM venues are overwhelmingly located in disadvantaged areas. The stresses of poverty and discrimination are drivers of gambling addiction, as are the existential dilemmas facing young people.
More than 80% of Australians aged 13-24 are on Snapchat. They’re being subjected to Sportsbet’s gambling ads.
— Dr Monique Ryan MP (@Mon4Kooyong) December 9, 2024
These ads normalise gambling to young people. They create a risk of lifelong addiction.
Australia needs a total ban on gambling advertising. https://t.co/CT3LSf3rlY
Gambling has never been more available, or more promoted, or more lucrative. Today’s young people are the first to experience these conditions, with what are likely to be devastating consequences for many.
We are already witnessing the effects of unremitting gambling promotion and availability on young people. It’s well past time to properly regulate gambling, with the wellbeing of people as the priority.
Looking out for young people is a fundamental priority of any decent society, surely. On the gambling front, we are failing dismally.
