PROBLEM GAMBLING


gaming industry becomes involved in addressing problem gambling. There are often also legal requirements, and the reality that not proactively tackling the issue will likely lead to tighter regulation. There is the strong risk of gaming staff to develop gambling problems themselves, and at least hypothetically there may be a legal duty of care to customers. Given that definitions of problem gambling can differ, and


given that it’s about behaviour on a continuum from “no problem” to “serious problem” rather than a clear-cut physical issue, pinning down exactly who is a problem gambler – and how many there are – is a challenge in itself. But a number of tests, or “screens”, have become accepted,


where individuals are asked a series of questions and then scored according to their answers. Most notable among


these are the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI) and Victorian Gambling Screen (VGS). Making sense of the results then depends on exactly how


you define a “problem”. For example, one interpretation of the SOGS classifies those who score less than 5 as “recreational gamblers”, those scoring 5-9 as “gamblers at risk”, and those with 10 or more as “problem gamblers”. Similarly, one version of the CPGI classifies respondents as “non-problem”, “low-risk”, “moderate-risk” and “problem”. But even if these varied approaches can lead to varying


results, they do clearly distinguish between people with problems and those without, and this enables researchers to estimate just how widespread problem gambling actually is.


FEBRUARY 2019 53


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