The Tasmanian Auditor-General has not been able to conclude whether programs aimed at reducing problem gambling in the state have been effective.
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In the gambling revenue and managing harm from gambling report, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, Auditor-General Rod Whitehead said he was unable to make a conclusion on the outcome of programs funded by the Community Support Levy.
The levy is funded from a percentage of the profits from electronic gaming machines in hotels and clubs throughout Tasmania and was established to support activities and programs to help reduce the risk of harm from problem gambling.
The report said about 2.4 per cent of Tasmanians were problems gamblers, and this would go on to affect about one in five people.
It found that problem gamblers were six times more likely to be divorced and four times more likely to have problems with alcohol, but just 15 per cent of problem gamblers sought help.
Mr Whitehead said that when looking at the activities funded by the levy and whether they were reporting on the intended outcomes of the harm reduction programs, it was difficult to form a conclusion.
“One of those intended outcomes is reducing the level of addictive or problem gambling and are they reducing the impact of harm from gambling,” he said.
“When it comes down to identifying whether or not all those things are having an impact on changing people’s gambling behaviours … it’s very difficult for people to get information.
“Because of the nature of problem gambling, it’s difficult to identify who the people are that have a problem or addiction to gambling.”
The report also looked at the collection of taxes, levies, penalties and licence fees by the government and whether these were being appropriately collected.
“What we found on completing our audit was that Treasury was effective in collecting the due about of gambling revenue,” Mr Whitehead said.
“Generally the grants and activities funded by the Community Support Levy … were done reasonably well, but there were some areas for improvement.”