The more Australians spend on poker machines, the higher the crime rate. This is the key finding to emerge from a landmark study of gambling and crime published in the prestigious journal Addiction.
The authors of the study found that each 10 per cent increase in gambling expenditure in NSW results in more than:
- 4,500 additional assaults.
- 2,800 additional home break-ins.
- 1,300 additional break and enter (non-dwelling) offences.
- 1,400 additional motor vehicle thefts.
- 2,300 additional stealing from motor vehicle thefts; and
- 3,800 additional fraud offences each year.
"Gambling hurts not only the people who gamble, but the community as a whole suffers from Australia's love affair with gambling," says Professor Donald Weatherburn from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and lead author of the study.
"The study results provide new insights into the harms associated with gambling: when people are spending more on gambling, those in the community who don't gamble are experiencing crimes that they otherwise might not experience."
Significance of the study
There is no previous evidence that looked at the relationship between total expenditure on gambling and total crime. But this study is the first to create this macro view.
"What most previous studies have done is interview individual gamblers and ask them whether they've committed crime to raise money to gamble," says Professor Weatherburn. "Our study is the first to quantify the link between gambling expenditure and crime."
"We've known for a long time that problem gamblers cause all sorts of problems to themselves and their families. What we didn't know is the big picture - how much extra anti-social behaviour does an increase in gambling expenditure cause across a whole community and this study provides that answer."
What do these findings mean for people who don't gamble?
The findings of this study show that the consequences of gambling are not limited to gamblers.
"Even if you are not a gambler, you're still picking up the tab for other people who do gamble in terms of increased break and enter, motor vehicle theft, stealing and assault," says Professor Weatherburn.
"It's in the community's interest to have tighter controls on gambling by reducing the opportunities for gambling, instituting controls that stop people from becoming problem gamblers and not advertising gambling. Without such measures, gambling expenditure increases and as a result so does the amount of crime."
How the study was conducted
The authors used data on monthly trends in gambling expenditure and crime across 126 NSW Local Government Areas (LGAs) over the period December 2015 to December 2019.
The study controlled for seasonal variations in gambling expenditure and crime. It also controlled for other factors, such as changes in income and unemployment, that might have affected gambling and/or crime over the study period.
The authors also explored the possibility that increased crime might lead to high levels of spending on gambling.
Significant effects in this direction were found but were much smaller and much less often significant than the effect of increased gambling expenditure on crime.
