"Statistics show that Australia has an estimated 293,000 problem gamblers, although this figure is probably greater if the newly released statistics for 2004-2005 are taken into account, as these show around an overall 2.9% yearly increase in all forms of gambling throughout the country.

...Australians have a reputation as both enthusiastic and innovative gamblers. This is underlined by the fact that the automatic tote is an Australian invention and internet gambling as been legalised and regulated in Australia since 1996.

The Salvation Army has found that it is not part of the Australian culture to admit that gambling can be a problem for society. Families and businesses, however, are suffering greatly as a result of gambling, and the recent statistics released confirm this view.

For example, in September 2006 the Bureau of Statistics revealed that in the period 2004-2005 Australians lost a huge 18.8 billion to gambling, a figure that represents around 2 % of the national economy. Additionally the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia says gambling or speculation caused approximately three per cent of bankruptcies in 2002-03.

Contributing factors to the massive increase in gambling spend focus on low unemployment and rising wages. In addition, greater gambling options might be another reason for the increase. It is a little reported issue, but constitutes a major problem, particularly as governments are becoming reliant on gambling revenues. However, it should be noted that in 2004-2005, 76,848 people were employed in the gambling industry, with 59.5% of these people working in clubs, pubs, taverns and bars.

...It is clear from research that gaming machines far outweigh any other form of gambling in Australia.12 This is confirmed by the experience of staff at The Sydney Problem Gambling Centre, where 80-90% of clients are addicted to gaming machines (see below). Throughout Australia, people spent over 8.7 billion on gaming machines in 2004-2005, over $1 billion more than during 2000-2001. The average net take per annum from one poker machine is currently $46,300.13

"Gambling is closely related to theft, and lewdness to murder."

"At the gambling table, there are no fathers and sons."

When initially adopted by various states, lotteries were sold as harmless mechanisms to increase state revenue without raising taxes. Why the public fell for the gamble remains a puzzle, but a study by two political scientists at the University of Maryland exposes the emptiness of that pitch by documenting how lotteries are major generators of income inequality.

The professors chart the Gini coefficient-a standard measure of income concentration in a political jurisdiction-based upon the Current Population Survey of the Census Bureau, from 1976 and 1995, comparing states without a lottery against states with a lottery during every year of the analysis. During the twenty-year period, the increase in the level of income inequality was 40 percent greater in the lottery states relative to the non-lottery states. In fact, the trend lines reversed themselves; whereas the non-lottery states began with a higher Gini factor in 1976, the lottery states surpassed the non-lottery states by 1993.

Multivariate regressions that included measurements of other state tax policies, demographic factors, and welfare spending on income inequality in all fifty states confirmed "the lottery effect" as an independent and significant contributor to income inequality, as the presence of a state lottery positively correlated with inequality in all three models (p<.05). According to the researchers, "the magnitude of the effect is sizable," comparable to a full standard deviation change in manufacturing employment (which is negatively associated with inequality) and greater than the per-revenue-dollar impact of either the sales or state income tax (each of which were positively associated with inequality).

Each statistical model also found that increases in state welfare spending were associated with increases in income concentration (p=.01 in all three models).

While these findings may not prompt states to reassess their dependence on this revenue source, they document the problematic nature of lotteries and raise questions as to whether the increased popularity of all sorts of gaming are also related to increases in both state spending and the family tax burden.