Problem Gambling

July 25, 2008

The Tasmanian Government has long come under fire for not doing anything about problem gambling. There has long been thought that there are large numbers of gamblers with problems and the government has been seemingly too slow to react to it.

Now there has been an independent review of the gambling industry in Tasmania, and they found that there were more than 2,000 poker machine addicts in the country. There are gambling addicts of all kinds, but the poker addicts make up the majority of those with problems.

Michael Aird, the Treasurer, released the report and said that although they may have been slow to react up until now things are going to change. Aird said that they were going to do something about the numbers of problem poker gamblers – and that critics could expect to see action in two to three months.

Aird said that the rate of problem gambling has remained steady since 2005. He is considering smart cards to limit gambling and is looking for various ways to change the pattern. The government is not, however, looking to reduce the number of poker machines that the country has.