Huge increase in the number of Tasmanians seeking help for gambling: Report

A recent report from the organisation's Social Research and Action Centre (SARC) extolled the importance of the state government's commitment to introducing a pre-commitment gaming card system for poker machines in Tasmania by December.

Under the system, users can set their own expenditure limits on the card or rely on defaults of $100 a day, $500 a month or $5000 a year.

SARC co-ordinator Mary Bennett said Tasmanians lost $189.8 million on poker machines in 2022-23, which worked out to be about half a million dollars a day.

"We know that for every person who gambles, six other Tasmanians, including partners and children in their household, are adversely affected," she said.

In the centre's recent report, The poker machines card. Simple As, it was noted that Tasmanians on average lost $3350 each year to the machines.

It found there were 64 poker machines per 10,000 people on the North-West and West coasts, 35 machines per 10,000 people in the North, and 23 per 10,000 people in the South.

it was acknowledged that poker machines were concentrated in low socioeconomic areas.

The report found there were rises across all age groups for people who had sought help for gambling where poker machine use was the primary problem, and those needing help in the 18 to 24 year age group doubled.

The Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission in 2022 recommended the state introduce mandatory card-based, pre-commitment gaming for poker machines on the basis that national and international research demonstrated it was most effective in helping players to stay within spending or loss limits.

A Productivity Commission inquiry into problem gambling in 2010 recommended a staged adoption of full pre-commitment systems across the country.

The Tasmanian Hospitality Association had previously stated that the pre-commitment system would be cumbersome to administer, while the Federal Group had recommended other harm minimisation measures be explored.