Betting on the evidence: The case of gamblingrelated problems amongst the Indigenous population of t

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Betting on the evidence The case of
gambling-related problems amongst the Indigenous
population of the Northern Territory

• Matthew Stevens
• Funded by the Community Benefit Fund

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Recent political climate in the NT

• Little Children are Sacred (Wild Anderson 2007)
• Gambling mentioned 36 times and in all instances
  except one, in the same sentence as alcohol, drug
  abuse and pornography
• Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage A
  Generational Plan of Action (NTG, 2008)
• A belated NT government response

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Recommendations and Responses
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Scholars dividedPositive and Negative Impacts

• Late 70s to early 80s seen as relatively benign
  activity (unregulated)
• e.g. distributes income and social/fun activity,
  equated with hunting and gathering (Altman 1985,
  Goodale 1987)
• Other social/medical researchers tended to
  emphasise the negative impacts
• Impacts on child nutrition, financial stress
  increased family tensions (Hunter 1993, Hunter
  and Spargo 1988, Brady 2004)
• Association with other community contexts e.g.
  alcohol/drug abuse (McKnight 2002)

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Gambling as a political concern

• It is common to see gambling lumped with other
  social vices in government policy and research
• Public health/harm minimisation verse associated
  gambling related problems within the sphere of
  the individual
• Different policy approaches across jurisdictions
  (gt40 codes of practice)
• Limited regulatory government intervention
  proactive positioning of industry are central
  regulatory principle in the NT
• Codes limited by resource constraints (Fogarty
  and Young 2008)

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A public health approach

• Examples alcohol, pornography, crime (community
  safety), tobacco
• Laws to limit access to certain available goods
  and services (e.g. drinking restrictions,
  TV/movies /literature classifications, fines
  etc.)
• An informed public health approach requires an
  evidence base

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National Definition of Problem Gambling

• Problem gambling is characterised by difficulties
  limiting money and/or time spent on gambling,
  which leads to adverse consequences for the
  gambler, others or the community.
• (Neale et al. 2005)

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Is gambling problematic now?

• Early 90s increasing patronage of casino
  indications of gambling phases (Foote 1996)
• Card playing viewed by Aboriginal people as
  positive (social, distributive), but tended to
  view pokies as problematic (McMillian and Togni
  2000)
• Problem gambling 2-3 times higher based on two
  estimates (SOGS 4.0 v. 1.9 CPGI 7.9 v.
  2.5) (SSPR 2006, Young et al. 2007)
• Indigenous more likely to be monthly poker
  machine players (47 cf. 33)
• Variation between communities in attitudes to
  gambling including cards (McDonald and Wombo 2006)

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NEGATIVE LIFE EVENTS SCALE 2002 NATSISS and GSS

• Gambling problems
• Alcohol or drug related problems
• Witness to violence
• Abuse or violent crime
• Trouble with the police
• Divorce or separation
• Not able to get a job
• Lost job, made redundant, sacked
• Death of family member or close friend
• Serious illness or disability
• Serious accident

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2002 Reported gambling problems
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Aims

• What is the relationship between gambling
  problems and other items in the Negative Life
  Events Scale (NLES)?
• What are the demographic, socioeconomic and
  socio-cultural correlates of reported gambling
  problems in the NT?

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Methods

• Australian Bureau of Statistics data
• 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait
  Islander Social Survey (NATSISS)
• 2002 General Social Survey (GSS)
• Factor Analysis of NLES items
• Logistic regression used to assess adjusted
  associations between gambling problems and
  demographic, socio-economic, socio-cultural and
  other explanatory variables

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Results NT NLES Factor Analysis
x Loadings greater than 0.50 o Loading
greater than 0.40
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NATSISS Significant multivariate adjusted
correlates of gambling problems Figure 1
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NATSISS Significant multivariate adjusted
correlates of gambling problems Figure 2
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GSS Significant multivariate adjusted correlates
of gambling problems Figure 1
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Comparison of NATSISS GSS

• Identify any differential associations between
  Indigenous and general population analysis
• Variables with same directional association
• Cash flow problems
• Participation in social/recreational activities
• Victim of threatened of physical violence
• Variables with different directional association
• Household income and source of income
• Self-assessed health

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Caveats to the analysis

• Different scope between the GSS and NATSISS
  (non-remote v. all NT)
• Estimates biased up in discrete community sample
  because of greater social connectedness ? skin
  groups
• Confounding through unmeasured variables (e.g.
  community size/location)

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Key messages

• Broader social context important
• Structural factors such as housing shortages
• Gambling problems do situate with other public
  health concerns such as
• alcohol and drug abuse, and
• Crime and law and order issues
• Differences in associations between Indigenous
  and non-Indigenous population ?targeted policy

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Concluding comments

• NTG response to gambling in communities located
  the problem predominantly with individuals
• Gambling counselling expansion, education
• Clearly gambling is interconnected with a range
  of social and structural contexts placing
  gambling in isolation in policy is unlikely to
  have much effect on negative aspects of gambling
• Programs addressing the structural influences are
  more likely to influence the negative aspects of
  gambling, particularly in remote communities

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• Thank you
• Questions