Survey shows one in eight gamblers have a problem

The largest survey of gambling across the state has found that almost one in eight gamblers is at risk of having a gambling problem.

The survey, commissioned by the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, comes as the State Government considers giving licence to billionaire James Packer to build a second casino in Sydney at Barangaroo.

It shows that 65-per-cent of the population has taken part in some kind of gambling over the last 12 months and around 40-thousand gamblers were considered to have a problem with the activity.

Greens MP, John Kaye says the survey shows that the state faces a major problem.

"It may well be a small portion who are actually affected by problem gambling but there's a massive number of people who will be affected if we keep increasing the opportunity for gambling and there's the families, the communities, the friends of those people who are affected," he said.

"This is a huge problem,"

"Almost everybody we know knows somebody who's been affected by problem gambling."

Greens MP John Kaye says the O'Farrell Government is allowing an increase in exposure to gambling.

Almost everybody we know knows someone who's been affected by problem gambling.

It's time that the NSW Government took these figures seriously instead of creating excuses and saying it's a small number, if they stood with the problem gamblers and the potentially affected gamblers and not with their pushers.

But the Minister for Hospitality and Racing, George Souris, says the survey shows that only a small proportion of the population are problem gamblers.

He says the government is calling for tenders for high quality counselling and support services for problem gamblers and their families.

"NSW and Australia is within the range of advanced modern western countries that are committed to dealing with the problem of this excessive gambling and there are very good results over the last decade, much more than even halving the problem better than that we have to show for it."

Source: ABC News, 30 October 2012