October 11, 2007

Levy review welcomed

The Problem Gambling Foundation is pleased that the Government has decided to review the problem gambling levy after 18 months rather than waiting three years.

CEO John Stansfield also congratulates the Green Party for making a stand on the issue.

Mr Stansfield says that the process for setting the levy in the first place was flawed and resulted in the levy being set at a level that was unfair and did not take into account some important factors.

He says that his organisation had argued that a fall in the rate of people presenting with gambling problems was temporary and a result of the introduction of smoke free legislation. The Gambling Commission had preferred to listen to the gambling industry that said the drop was permanent and the budget for treatment services was reduced accordingly.

"We have been proved right," he says.

Mr Stansfield says another problem was the formula adopted did not take into account the degree of harm being done in different gambling environments.

"The way the levy was set favoured the casinos," he says.

"For example people coming to us who have been casino gamblers are usually in a lot more trouble than those who normally gamble in clubs yet clubs are paying a levy around twice as high as casinos.

"They tend to have gambled away a lot more money and have been able to carry on doing it for a lot longer. They have often got themselves into trouble with the law for doing things like steal off their employer as well."

Mr Stansfield says that the commitment to host responsibility in clubs is much higher than in the casino and bars and this should also have been taken into consideration.

He says that he hopes the Government makes doing research on how to calculate the harm done by different forms of gambling and gambling in different environments a priority so there a fair formula for setting the levy can be used next time.

"There should be an element of carrot and stick in it so that those operators with good responsibility are rewarded and those who aren't bothering have an incentive to improve," he says.

ENDS

© Scoop Media