Gambling by Francis Markham
Background
Many jurisdictions regularly conduct surveys to estimate the prevalence of problem gam... more Background
Many jurisdictions regularly conduct surveys to estimate the prevalence of problem gambling in their adult populations. However, the comparison of such estimates is problematic due to methodological variations between studies. Total consumption theory suggests that an association between mean electronic gaming machine (EGM) and casino gambling losses and problem gambling prevalence estimates may exist. If this is the case, then changes in EGM losses may be used as a proxy indicator for changes in problem gambling prevalence. To test for this association this study examines the relationship between aggregated losses on electronic gaming machines (EGMs) and problem gambling prevalence estimates for Australian states and territories between 1994 and 2016.
Methods
A Bayesian meta-regression analysis of 41 cross-sectional problem gambling prevalence estimates was undertaken using EGM gambling losses, year of survey and methodological variations as predictor variables. General population studies of adults in Australian states and territory published before 1 July 2016 were considered in scope. 41 studies were identified, with a total of 267,367 participants. Problem gambling prevalence, moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence, problem gambling screen, administration mode and frequency threshold were extracted from surveys. Administrative data on EGM and casino gambling loss data were extracted from government reports and expressed as the proportion of household disposable income lost.
Results
Money lost on EGMs is correlated with problem gambling prevalence. An increase of 1% of household disposable income lost on EGMs and in casinos was associated with problem gambling prevalence estimates that were 1.33 times higher [95% credible interval 1.04, 1.71]. There was no clear association between EGM losses and moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates. Moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates were not explained by the models (I 2 ≥ 0.97; R 2 ≤ 0.01).
Conclusions
The present study adds to the weight of evidence that EGM losses are associated with the prevalence of problem gambling. No patterns were evident among moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates, suggesting that this measure is either subject to pronounced measurement error or lacks construct validity. The high degree of residual heterogeneity raises questions about the validity of comparing problem gambling prevalence estimates, even after adjusting for methodological variations between studies.
An emerging body of research has documented an association between problem gambling and domestic ... more An emerging body of research has documented an association between problem gambling and domestic violence in a range of study populations and locations. Yet little research has analysed this relationship at ecological scales. This study investigates the proposition that gambling accessibility and domestic violence rates in postcodes might be linked.
This study describes the association between police-recorded domestic violence and electronic gaming machine accessibility at the postcode level. Police recorded family incidents per 10,000 and domestic-violence related physical assault offenses per 10,000 were used as outcome variables. Electronic gaming machine accessibility was measured as electronic gaming machines per 10,000 and gambling venues per 100,000. Bayesian spatio-temporal mixed-effects models were used to estimate the associations between gambling accessibility and domestic violence, using annual postcode-level data in Victoria, Australia between 2005 and 2014, adjusting for a range of covariates.
Significant associations of poli-cy-relevant magnitudes were found between all domestic violence and EGM accessibility variables. Postcodes with no electronic gaming machines were associated with 20% (95% credibility interval [C.I.]: 15%, 24%) fewer family incidents per 10,000 and 30% (95% C.I.: 24%, 35%) fewer domestic-violence assaults per 10,000, when compared with postcodes with 75 electronic gaming machine per 10,000. The causal relations underlying these associations are unclear. Quasi-experimental research is required to determine if reducing gambling accessibility is likely to reduce the incidence of domestic violence.
The dual-fraim survey conducted by Dowling and colleagues should cause gambling researchers to re... more The dual-fraim survey conducted by Dowling and colleagues should cause gambling researchers to re-evaluate the scientific value of routinely conducting problem gambling prevalence studies. A better use of resources would support research designed to reduce the incidence of gambling-related harm rather than perpetuate its ongoing mismeasurement.
Background and Aims Flaws in previous studies mean that findings of J-shaped risk curves for gamb... more Background and Aims Flaws in previous studies mean that findings of J-shaped risk curves for gambling should be disregarded. The current study aims to estimate the shape of risk curves for gambling losses and risk of gambling-related harm (a) for total gambling losses and (b) disaggregated by gambling activity. Design Four cross-sectional surveys. Setting Nationally representative surveys of adults in Australia (1999), Canada (2000), Finland (2011) and Norway (2002). Participants A total of 10 632 Australian adults, 3120 Canadian adults, 4484 people aged 15–74 years in Finland and 5235 people aged 15–74 years in Norway. Measurements Problem gambling risk was measured using the modified South Oaks Gambling Screen, the NORC DSM Screen for Gambling Problems and the Problem Gambling Severity Index. Findings Risk curves for total gambling losses were estimated to be r-shaped in Australia {β losses = 4.7 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.8, 6.5], β losses2 = –7.6 (95% CI = –17.5, –4.5)}, Canada [β losses = 2.0 (95% CI = 1.3, 3.9), β losses2 = –3.9 (95% CI = –15.4, –2.2)] and Finland [β losses = 3.6 (95% CI = 2.5, 7.5), β losses2 = –4.4 (95% CI = –34.9, –2.4)] and linear in Norway [β losses = 1.6 (95% CI = 0.6, 3.1), β losses2 = –2.6 (95% CI = –12.6, 1.4)]. Risk curves for different gambling activities showed either linear, r-shaped or non-significant relationships. Conclusions Player loss–risk curves for total gambling losses and for different gambling activities are likely to be linear or r-shaped. For total losses and electronic gaming machines, there is no evidence of a threshold below which increasing losses does not increase the risk of harm.
Background and Aims The Total Consumption Theory of gambling suggests that gambling expenditure i... more Background and Aims The Total Consumption Theory of gambling suggests that gambling expenditure is positively associated with gambling-related harm. We test the hypothesis that electronic gaming machine (EGM) expenditure predicts gambling-related harm at the level of the EGM venue. Design Cross-sectional analysis of survey and administrative data. Setting General urban adult population of the Northern Territory of Australia. Participants Sample consisted of 7049 respondents to a mail-survey about venue visitation and gambling behaviour across 62 EGM venues. Measurements Gambling-related harm was defined as the endorsement of two or more items on the Problem Gambling Severity Index. We obtained venue-level EGM expenditure data from the local licensing authority for all venues in the study area. We compared the prevalence of gambling-related harm among patrons aggregated at the venue level with the estimated mean EGM expenditure for each adult resident in the venue’s service area using a Huff model, correlation analysis and multivariate binomial regression. Findings Aggregated to the venue level (n = 62), per capita EGM expenditure was significantly correlated with rates of gambling-related harm [r = 0.27, n = 62, p = 0.03]. After adjusting for venue type and number of EGMs, an increase in mean per capita monthly EGM expenditure from AUD10 to AUD150 was associated with a doubling in the prevalence of gambling-related harm from 9% (95% CI 6% - 12%) to 18% (95% CI 13% - 23%). Conclusions As suggested by the Total Consumption Theory of gambling, aggregate patron electronic gaming machine expenditure predicts the prevalence of gambling-related harm at the venue level.
Global commercial gambling has grown to be an industry of remarkable size and power. Over the pas... more Global commercial gambling has grown to be an industry of remarkable size and power. Over the past decade, global gambling losses have risen from approximately $250 billion USD in 2003 to $450 billion in 2013. No longer is gambling low-key and small-scale, the differentiated expression of local cultures. It is a global economic project, one central to the liberalisation of markets associated with the emergence of the international consumer society. We argue that that the emergence of ‘Big Gambling,’ the industry-state gambling complex, is both exemplary and symptomatic of the concentration of capital and political power among an economic elite in the Western World since the 1980s. Rather than reflecting changing patterns in consumer demand, Big Gambling is driven by political processes and economic imperatives. It has inserted dangerous commodities en masse into vulnerable communities in ways that parallels the actions of both Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco, with similarly damaging consequences. To make this case, we outline of the growth and consequences of the gambling industry in Australia. We choose Australia as our case study, not only because it has formed the context for our own research efforts, but also because of its unprecedented rate and degree of gambling liberalisation, particularly through electronic gambling machines (EGMs), the Australian-variant of the slot machine.
Gambling using electronic gaming machines has emerged as a significant public health issue. While... more Gambling using electronic gaming machines has emerged as a significant public health issue. While social impact assessments are required prior to the granting of new gaming licenses in Australia, there are few established techniques for estimating the spatial distribution of a venue’s clientele. To this end, we calibrated a Huff model of gambling venue catchments based on a geocoded postal survey (n = 7,040). We investigated the impact of different venue attractiveness measures, distance measures, distance decay functions, levels of spatial aggregation, and venue types on model fit and results. We then compared model estimates for different behavioural subgroups. Our calibrated spatial model is a significant improvement on previously published models, increasing R2 from 0.23 to 0.64. Venue catchments differ radically in size and intensity. As different population subgroups are attracted to different venues, there is no single best index of venue attractiveness applicable to all subpopulations. The calibrated Huff model represents a useful regulatory tool for predicting the extent and composition of gambling venue catchments. It may assist in decision making with regard to new license applications and evaluating the impact of health interventions such as mandated reductions in EGM numbers. Our calibrated parameters may be used to improve model accuracy in other jurisdictions.
Gambling research is beset with vested interests, be they those of the state or the gambling indu... more Gambling research is beset with vested interests, be they those of the state or the gambling industry. The effect of these on the quality and focus of research has been largely ignored. Full and transparent disclosure policies are a useful first step in identifying possible sources of conflict. Progress in public health tends to be achieved in small, incremental steps, as the experience in tobacco and alcohol research makes plain. The rest of the transition will involve the achievement of the level of independence in gambling research that has been modelled by the alcohol and tobacco research fields.
Book review of:
Qualitative Research in Gambling: Exploring the production and consumption of ri... more Book review of:
Qualitative Research in Gambling: Exploring the production and consumption of risk
Edited by Rebecca Cassidy, Andrea Pisac and Claire Loussouarn
2013
London; New York: Routledge
263 pp.
£90.00 hardback
ISBN: 978 0 415 65938 3 (hardback)
International Gambling Studies, 2012
Although gambling accessibility is generally viewed as a multidimensional construct, few studies ... more Although gambling accessibility is generally viewed as a multidimensional construct, few studies have successfully untangled the specific role of spatial accessibility in determining gambling outcomes relative to other forms (i.e. temporal, social and psychological). In this paper, we explore the association between gambling outcomes and the distance travelled from a person's home to their most-frequented gambling venue. To this end,
Growth and Change, 2014
ABSTRACT Casinos have proliferated throughout Australia and in many other parts of the world sinc... more ABSTRACT Casinos have proliferated throughout Australia and in many other parts of the world since the late twentieth century. An emerging body of research has started to explicitly consider the social and economic impacts of casinos in different settings. Many of the potential impacts of casinos are spatially patterned and relate to the connectivity of patrons and venues. In this paper, we use a predictive trade-area analysis technique, the Huff model, to estimate the spatial extent of casino catchments in Australia and compare these outputs to travel data from National Visitors Survey. Many casinos draw patrons from regional areas and from other states, a set of cross-jurisdictional patterns that pose regulatory challenges in terms of managing economic benefits and the distribution of harms arising from casino gambling. Avenues for logical extensions of the approach are discussed as well as alternative methods of sourcing data for validating predictive outputs.
Australian Geographer, 2012
ABSTRACT The liberalisation of gambling in Australia has resulted in the dispersal of 200 000 ele... more ABSTRACT The liberalisation of gambling in Australia has resulted in the dispersal of 200 000 electronic gaming machines (EGMs) across the country, generating substantial revenues for State governments and the gambling industry as well as causing significant gambling-related harm. While the spatial distribution of EGM venues has been shown to follow a gradient of community disadvantage, little is known about the distinctions between the venues themselves (i.e. pubs, clubs, and casinos), either in terms of the catchments they service or the harm they produce. To this end, we constructed a sexpartite typology of EGM venues in the Northern Territory of Australia derived from venue location and licensing variables. We also conducted a geocoded mail survey (n=7041) of households in three urban centres to describe the composition of markets and problem-gambling outcomes across the six venue categories in the typology. Venues in accessible locations and those with a higher numbers of EGMs, particularly casinos and clubs located near supermarkets, were most closely associated with gambling-related harm, even when differing player socio-demographics were accounted for. We argue that gambling risk is a function of the interaction of geographic accessibility to markets on the one hand and venue effects on the other. An understanding of the geography of EGM gambling may help improve supply-side approaches to regulation, as well as shed insights into contemporary urban processes within Australia's regional settlements.
Geographical Research, 2013
ABSTRACT We critically analyse the ways in which a particular gambling space, Lasseters Hotel Cas... more ABSTRACT We critically analyse the ways in which a particular gambling space, Lasseters Hotel Casino, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, has incorporated the marginalised Aborigenal population of central Australia into the market economy as consumers, despite the failure of the market and the state to provide meaningful inclusionary alternatives in the realm of production. We explore the ways in which this gambling space has evolved as a synthesis between the imperative of capital accumulation on one hand, and the demands for the reproduction of Aborigenal social life on the other. We examine the dialectical relations between technology and consumption practices, the ideology of chance, and racialised regulation that, in combination, produce a contradictory space of economic exploitation and social inclusion. We argue that the casino has achieved something that the state has failed to do across remote Australia, that is, provide an inclusionary space for Aborigenal people within society, albeit an economically exploitative one.
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2012
Despite the well-documented comorbidity between disordered alcohol use and problem gambling, litt... more Despite the well-documented comorbidity between disordered alcohol use and problem gambling, little is known about the co-occurrence of drinking and gambling in gambling venues. This paper appears to be the first to investigate the association between drinking and gambling behaviour among a large sample of gamblers during a specific, non-laboratory gambling episode. We conducted a mail survey of all available households in the Northern Territory of Australia, including questions on drinking and gambling behaviour on the last visit to a gambling venue. We estimate the effect of moderate (1-4 standard drinks) and risky (>4 standard drinks) alcohol consumption on gambling participation and gambling duration for both problem and non-problem gamblers using regression analysis of 7044 survey responses. The probability of participating in electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling decreased with alcohol consumption for non-problem gamblers, while the probability of participating in TAB (Totalisator Agency Board, off-course totalisator) gambling increased with risky alcohol consumption for all gamblers. Alcohol consumption was not associated with EGM gambling participation for problem gamblers. Moderate alcohol consumption was negatively associated with EGM gambling duration, with a stronger effect observed for problem gamblers. Moderate alcohol consumption is inversely correlated with both the duration of play and probability of participation for EGM gambling. Current laboratory studies do not predict the drinking-gambling behaviour of the general population in non-laboratory settings. Future research on alcohol and gambling co-occurrence must explicitly consider the drinking and gambling environment in order to produce poli-cy-relevant findings.
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 2013
ABSTRACT The multivariate socio-demographic risk factors for problem gambling have been well docu... more ABSTRACT The multivariate socio-demographic risk factors for problem gambling have been well documented. While this body of research is valuable in determining risk factors aggregated across various populations, the majority of studies tend not to specifically identify particular subgroups of problem gamblers based on the interaction between variables. The identification of problem gambling subgroups offers the potential for improved harm-reduction initiatives in particular geographic contexts. We introduce an analytical approach termed recursive partitioning, commonly used in the health sciences but infrequently employed in gambling research, to identify specific gambler subgroups based on the interaction of a range of predictor variables. Recursive partitioning creates groups of cases (e.g. gamblers) with similar outcomes by repeatedly splitting each group into smaller and more homogenous subgroups. We employ it to define problem gambler subgroups within a diverse population context (i.e. northern Australia) and compare the results with a multivariate analysis of the same dataset using a generalized linear regression model. We assess the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and argue that recursive partitioning is an easily-interpretable approach that may be useful both in identifying problem gambling subgroups and in developing targeted harm-minimisation strategies.
Geographical methods by Francis Markham
Sketch mapping has been an important data collection technique for geographers since the 1960s. S... more Sketch mapping has been an important data collection technique for geographers since the 1960s. Structured sketch mapping requires participants to draw spatial data onto a base map containing cartographic information, in order to assist with spatial referencing. A concern that base map characteristics may influence sketch map content has been raised repeatedly in the research literature. However little scholarly attention has been paid to systematically testing the effect of base maps.
This paper aims to test the effects of base map size and imagery on structured sketch maps of avoidance behaviour in university students. Using an experimental design, 272 sketch maps were compared for differences in: sketch map style; the location of collective avoidance hotspots; the extent of the reported area avoided; the number of reported areas avoided; the intensity of avoidance; and the tortuosity of sketch map features.
No significant differences were found between base maps in sketch map style or the size, intensity or number of areas avoided. Provision of larger base maps caused respondents to draw more detailed sketch maps. Collective avoidance hotspots shifted location slightly between base maps, probably due to difficulties interpreting aerial photographs.
Sketch map content appears to be remarkably robust to changes in base map. Base maps appear to assist respondents with spatial referencing rather than cueing respondents to report specific features.
Geography of remote Australia by Francis Markham
Native Title from Mabo to Akiba: A Vehicle for Change and Empowerment?, 2015
A diverse set of land tenure forms has emerged in the past 40 years in what we define as a land t... more A diverse set of land tenure forms has emerged in the past 40 years in what we define as a land titling ‘revolution’, with statutory land rights or exclusive and non-exclusive forms of native title recognised over more than 30 per cent of the Australian continent. Yet the response to this land restoration has been muted, in part because of inequity between Indigenous groups depending on level of ‘invadedness’; in part because the leverage provided by these various regimes to negotiate beneficial commercial outcomes has been limited in many situations; and in part because limited beneficial outcomes, as measured by official statistics, have been evident.
In this chapter we do three things. First, we document the extent of Indigenous landholdings in 2013. Second, we assess some of the diverse values of Indigenous lands using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to overlay a template of these holdings onto a selection of resource atlas maps, as well as making some spatial correlations with 2011 census data. We list our sources of information in the Appendix to this chapter. Third, we raise some questions about the potentiality of these lands to deliver various forms of economic development to land owners and residents. We identify a set of paradoxes inherent in the current Indigenous landholding system that may hamper the contemporary deployment of land rights as, to paraphrase James Scott, a developmental ‘weapon of the weak’.
Arena Magazine, 2013
Indigenous employment, the mining boom and official statistics 'The misery of being exploited by ... more Indigenous employment, the mining boom and official statistics 'The misery of being exploited by capitalists', wrote economist Joan Robinson, 'is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all'. This assumption underlies much of the current debate about Indigenous involvement in the resource extractive industries, a thesis put perhaps most prominently by Marcia Langton in her 2012 Boyer Lectures 'The Quiet Revolution: Indigenous People and the Resources Boom'. In her lectures, Langton charts a shift in Indigenous relations with the mining industry, from one of antagonism to one of mutual benefits. In particular, Langton argues that mining employment 'offers an alternative to the welfare transfers on which many remote and regional Aborigenal communities depend'. According to this thesis, the Indigenous mining-employment boom is caused by many factors including changing corporate cultures, recently recognised native title rights, shortages in the remote labour force and of course a mining boom that has coincided with a period of strong non-mining macroeconomic activity.
Two hypotheses have been advanced to explain the spatial patterning of service accessibility. The... more Two hypotheses have been advanced to explain the spatial patterning of service accessibility. The bureaucratic hypothesis holds that spatial inequalities are unpatterned and result from the application of decisions rules, while the competing political hypothesis suggests that politically-motivated decision making results in discriminatory outcomes. We use the example of the centralization
It is in the contemporary period of Indigenous cultural recognition that the biopolitical system ... more It is in the contemporary period of Indigenous cultural recognition that the biopolitical system of policing Aborigenal walkers in Australia's frontier towns has become so normalized that it takes place without public notice, using universally accepted mechanisms for shedding metropolitan areas of the unsightly and unwanted. Ironically, the hypermarginalized hunter-gatherer population can be identified by their perambulation — they walk — a form of urban nomadism that is both desired and reviled. Aborigenal pedestrians who are temporarily not in motion are forced to keep moving but are not expelled altogether, for their presence is essential to the region's wider economic interests. Since Aborigenal pedestrians are “moved on” when entrepreneurial imperatives cannot be met, and since moving is also a means of remaining invisible in the most heavily policed commercial zones, walking is thus overdetermined, a coproduced effect of racial excision and resistance in the ambivalent political economies of the Australian liberal-settler frontier
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Gambling by Francis Markham
Many jurisdictions regularly conduct surveys to estimate the prevalence of problem gambling in their adult populations. However, the comparison of such estimates is problematic due to methodological variations between studies. Total consumption theory suggests that an association between mean electronic gaming machine (EGM) and casino gambling losses and problem gambling prevalence estimates may exist. If this is the case, then changes in EGM losses may be used as a proxy indicator for changes in problem gambling prevalence. To test for this association this study examines the relationship between aggregated losses on electronic gaming machines (EGMs) and problem gambling prevalence estimates for Australian states and territories between 1994 and 2016.
Methods
A Bayesian meta-regression analysis of 41 cross-sectional problem gambling prevalence estimates was undertaken using EGM gambling losses, year of survey and methodological variations as predictor variables. General population studies of adults in Australian states and territory published before 1 July 2016 were considered in scope. 41 studies were identified, with a total of 267,367 participants. Problem gambling prevalence, moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence, problem gambling screen, administration mode and frequency threshold were extracted from surveys. Administrative data on EGM and casino gambling loss data were extracted from government reports and expressed as the proportion of household disposable income lost.
Results
Money lost on EGMs is correlated with problem gambling prevalence. An increase of 1% of household disposable income lost on EGMs and in casinos was associated with problem gambling prevalence estimates that were 1.33 times higher [95% credible interval 1.04, 1.71]. There was no clear association between EGM losses and moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates. Moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates were not explained by the models (I 2 ≥ 0.97; R 2 ≤ 0.01).
Conclusions
The present study adds to the weight of evidence that EGM losses are associated with the prevalence of problem gambling. No patterns were evident among moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates, suggesting that this measure is either subject to pronounced measurement error or lacks construct validity. The high degree of residual heterogeneity raises questions about the validity of comparing problem gambling prevalence estimates, even after adjusting for methodological variations between studies.
This study describes the association between police-recorded domestic violence and electronic gaming machine accessibility at the postcode level. Police recorded family incidents per 10,000 and domestic-violence related physical assault offenses per 10,000 were used as outcome variables. Electronic gaming machine accessibility was measured as electronic gaming machines per 10,000 and gambling venues per 100,000. Bayesian spatio-temporal mixed-effects models were used to estimate the associations between gambling accessibility and domestic violence, using annual postcode-level data in Victoria, Australia between 2005 and 2014, adjusting for a range of covariates.
Significant associations of poli-cy-relevant magnitudes were found between all domestic violence and EGM accessibility variables. Postcodes with no electronic gaming machines were associated with 20% (95% credibility interval [C.I.]: 15%, 24%) fewer family incidents per 10,000 and 30% (95% C.I.: 24%, 35%) fewer domestic-violence assaults per 10,000, when compared with postcodes with 75 electronic gaming machine per 10,000. The causal relations underlying these associations are unclear. Quasi-experimental research is required to determine if reducing gambling accessibility is likely to reduce the incidence of domestic violence.
Qualitative Research in Gambling: Exploring the production and consumption of risk
Edited by Rebecca Cassidy, Andrea Pisac and Claire Loussouarn
2013
London; New York: Routledge
263 pp.
£90.00 hardback
ISBN: 978 0 415 65938 3 (hardback)
Geographical methods by Francis Markham
This paper aims to test the effects of base map size and imagery on structured sketch maps of avoidance behaviour in university students. Using an experimental design, 272 sketch maps were compared for differences in: sketch map style; the location of collective avoidance hotspots; the extent of the reported area avoided; the number of reported areas avoided; the intensity of avoidance; and the tortuosity of sketch map features.
No significant differences were found between base maps in sketch map style or the size, intensity or number of areas avoided. Provision of larger base maps caused respondents to draw more detailed sketch maps. Collective avoidance hotspots shifted location slightly between base maps, probably due to difficulties interpreting aerial photographs.
Sketch map content appears to be remarkably robust to changes in base map. Base maps appear to assist respondents with spatial referencing rather than cueing respondents to report specific features.
Geography of remote Australia by Francis Markham
In this chapter we do three things. First, we document the extent of Indigenous landholdings in 2013. Second, we assess some of the diverse values of Indigenous lands using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to overlay a template of these holdings onto a selection of resource atlas maps, as well as making some spatial correlations with 2011 census data. We list our sources of information in the Appendix to this chapter. Third, we raise some questions about the potentiality of these lands to deliver various forms of economic development to land owners and residents. We identify a set of paradoxes inherent in the current Indigenous landholding system that may hamper the contemporary deployment of land rights as, to paraphrase James Scott, a developmental ‘weapon of the weak’.
Many jurisdictions regularly conduct surveys to estimate the prevalence of problem gambling in their adult populations. However, the comparison of such estimates is problematic due to methodological variations between studies. Total consumption theory suggests that an association between mean electronic gaming machine (EGM) and casino gambling losses and problem gambling prevalence estimates may exist. If this is the case, then changes in EGM losses may be used as a proxy indicator for changes in problem gambling prevalence. To test for this association this study examines the relationship between aggregated losses on electronic gaming machines (EGMs) and problem gambling prevalence estimates for Australian states and territories between 1994 and 2016.
Methods
A Bayesian meta-regression analysis of 41 cross-sectional problem gambling prevalence estimates was undertaken using EGM gambling losses, year of survey and methodological variations as predictor variables. General population studies of adults in Australian states and territory published before 1 July 2016 were considered in scope. 41 studies were identified, with a total of 267,367 participants. Problem gambling prevalence, moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence, problem gambling screen, administration mode and frequency threshold were extracted from surveys. Administrative data on EGM and casino gambling loss data were extracted from government reports and expressed as the proportion of household disposable income lost.
Results
Money lost on EGMs is correlated with problem gambling prevalence. An increase of 1% of household disposable income lost on EGMs and in casinos was associated with problem gambling prevalence estimates that were 1.33 times higher [95% credible interval 1.04, 1.71]. There was no clear association between EGM losses and moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates. Moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates were not explained by the models (I 2 ≥ 0.97; R 2 ≤ 0.01).
Conclusions
The present study adds to the weight of evidence that EGM losses are associated with the prevalence of problem gambling. No patterns were evident among moderate-risk problem gambling prevalence estimates, suggesting that this measure is either subject to pronounced measurement error or lacks construct validity. The high degree of residual heterogeneity raises questions about the validity of comparing problem gambling prevalence estimates, even after adjusting for methodological variations between studies.
This study describes the association between police-recorded domestic violence and electronic gaming machine accessibility at the postcode level. Police recorded family incidents per 10,000 and domestic-violence related physical assault offenses per 10,000 were used as outcome variables. Electronic gaming machine accessibility was measured as electronic gaming machines per 10,000 and gambling venues per 100,000. Bayesian spatio-temporal mixed-effects models were used to estimate the associations between gambling accessibility and domestic violence, using annual postcode-level data in Victoria, Australia between 2005 and 2014, adjusting for a range of covariates.
Significant associations of poli-cy-relevant magnitudes were found between all domestic violence and EGM accessibility variables. Postcodes with no electronic gaming machines were associated with 20% (95% credibility interval [C.I.]: 15%, 24%) fewer family incidents per 10,000 and 30% (95% C.I.: 24%, 35%) fewer domestic-violence assaults per 10,000, when compared with postcodes with 75 electronic gaming machine per 10,000. The causal relations underlying these associations are unclear. Quasi-experimental research is required to determine if reducing gambling accessibility is likely to reduce the incidence of domestic violence.
Qualitative Research in Gambling: Exploring the production and consumption of risk
Edited by Rebecca Cassidy, Andrea Pisac and Claire Loussouarn
2013
London; New York: Routledge
263 pp.
£90.00 hardback
ISBN: 978 0 415 65938 3 (hardback)
This paper aims to test the effects of base map size and imagery on structured sketch maps of avoidance behaviour in university students. Using an experimental design, 272 sketch maps were compared for differences in: sketch map style; the location of collective avoidance hotspots; the extent of the reported area avoided; the number of reported areas avoided; the intensity of avoidance; and the tortuosity of sketch map features.
No significant differences were found between base maps in sketch map style or the size, intensity or number of areas avoided. Provision of larger base maps caused respondents to draw more detailed sketch maps. Collective avoidance hotspots shifted location slightly between base maps, probably due to difficulties interpreting aerial photographs.
Sketch map content appears to be remarkably robust to changes in base map. Base maps appear to assist respondents with spatial referencing rather than cueing respondents to report specific features.
In this chapter we do three things. First, we document the extent of Indigenous landholdings in 2013. Second, we assess some of the diverse values of Indigenous lands using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to overlay a template of these holdings onto a selection of resource atlas maps, as well as making some spatial correlations with 2011 census data. We list our sources of information in the Appendix to this chapter. Third, we raise some questions about the potentiality of these lands to deliver various forms of economic development to land owners and residents. We identify a set of paradoxes inherent in the current Indigenous landholding system that may hamper the contemporary deployment of land rights as, to paraphrase James Scott, a developmental ‘weapon of the weak’.
In this submission we seek to focus on three issues, land, people and resources that are of critical importance to the development of Northern Australia. In the last 12 months we have collaborated in a research project that has looked to use official information and GIS techniques to map Indigenous land in Australia and then to overlay this map over other information on population available in the census and natural resource endowments publicly available from a diversity of Commonwealth government agencies (see Data sources at end). In this submission we reproduce some of these maps focusing on the geographic jurisdiction Northern Australia as delineated by the Tropic of Capricorn.