New study reveals impacts of late-night poker machine play

The 'Impact of Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) Late Night Play on EGM Player Behaviours' study found that people with gambling problems represent the majority of late-night poker machine players, with almost two thirds of people playing poker machines between 2am and 8am experiencing significant negative consequences.

The study estimated that 3.1% of people gambling between 8am-10pm had severe gambling problems, increasing to 7.3% between 10pm-12am, 12.1% between 12am-2am and 22.6% between 2am-8am.  A further 41.8% of gamblers playing between 2am-8am were classified as moderate risk of gambling problems.

The Government will consider the report findings as part of its package of gaming reforms and has already committed an additional $10 million in annual funding to the Responsible Gambling Fund to deliver programs to prevent and reduce gambling harms.

Full report:Impact of Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) Late Night Play on EGM Player Behaviours PDF, 1379.72 KB