Gambling products and harm

Sports betting is one of the fastest growing forms of gambling, especially for young men. This is because it’s easy to access, including on smartphones. It is also heavily advertised on TV and social media.

Sport and race betting harms are commonly linked to:

• inducements offered by bookmakers (like bonus bets and cashbacks) which encourage increased spending and riskier betting
• the complexity of types of gambling, offers and reward values which cause confusion and lead to greater losses. An example is combinations of likely outcomes (such as the favourite to win) with more uncommon ones (like a large score line or a particular player scoring first)
• fast, easy access to online betting on a large number of sports and events worldwide 24/7

Sports betting is a big business. Betting providers use clever marketing and new products to entice people to bet larger and more often. The normalisation of betting as a social activity through promotions is also a marketing tactic^[2]. Such examples are the ‘betting with mates’ and other ‘social gambling’ features of apps. Research demonstrates that more friends taking part in gambling is associated with more gambling harm, and more difficulty reducing the harm^[3].

Research also shows that there is a link between exposure to wagering advertising and riskier betting behaviour. For more information, see the Gambling advertising section below.

Poker machines (electronic gaming machines) are also commonly known as gaming machines or pokies. They are programmed to deliver results that keep people gambling. Here are some of these addictive features:

• near misses that make people think they are close to a win even though there is no basis for this[4]
• losses disguised as wins, signalled by flashing lights and celebratory or ‘winning’ sounds even when the amount of money won is less than the bet. They ‘trick’ the brain to release the feel-good hormone dopamine despite an overall loss[5][6]
• the speed of play, which can limit a person’s opportunity to assess outcomes/losses before deciding whether to continue gambling[7]
• free spins and jackpots which encourage people to continue playing and to spend more money
• clicking and chiming sounds, that help build the sense of anticipation felt by users and further add to their desire to play and see what is coming next
• use of credits instead of money, which disrupt people’s financial judgement and make it hard to keep track of the amount spent and lost.

Each gaming machine has a built-in computer program that randomly generates thousands of possible outcomes every second. When the button is pressed, it randomly picks one result from thousands of possibilities. The next second it generates thousands more possibilities. It does this continuously, every second, all day and night. Each spin is completely random. Therefore, you can never predict how a play on a poker machine will turn out. It makes no difference whether you:

• play a machine straight after someone else who has had a big payout
• play a machine that has not had a big payout over a long time
• play at certain times of the day or night
• play on certain days of the week
• press the buttons a certain way.

Casinos are designed to be glamorous and exciting to attract patrons. They are filled with lots of noise, lights and other distractions that induce the idea of big wins. But every casino is a business and there to make a profit at the end of the day.

Factors that contribute to people experiencing harm from casino table games include:

• the complexity of many casino games, which require great attention and focus, as well as the ability to make decisions quickly
• the speed of play in automated versions of games, which reduces the time available for thinking and reflecting on decisions and spending[8]
• near misses that trigger the brain’s reward system and make people think they are close to winning when they are not[9] [10]
• the use of chips instead of money, which make it hard to keep track of the amount spent
• noise and flashing lights, designed to grab attention and to imply that people are constantly enjoying big wins.

Lotteries, housie (bingo), scratchies and keno are generally considered to be forms of gambling that are a source of harmless entertainment for most people. However, how they work and how people can gamble on them can pose a risk of harm. For example,

• the digitisation of housie and keno has increased the speed and frequency of gambling and therefore increased the risk of harm. People can play more at any time
• the instant result, repetitive and chance-based features of scratchies increase the desire to buy more tickets[11]
• jackpots, unlimited in size, linked and rolling, encourage higher spending with fewer winners
• product locations near other forms of gambling such as pokies, increases the likelihood of participation in other, more harmful forms of gambling.[12]

Don’t forget that the odds of winning vary a lot depending on the game – as does the size of the prize.