A judge in Australia has described the free meals, free drinks, free limousine rides and free tickets to sporting events supplied by Crown Casino to a pathological gambler as ‘gimmicky enticements and rewards’. The judge described the seduction of this type of lifestyle compared to an unhappy home environment as being a sad situation, and blamed state gambling policy for the ease with which the woman, now sentenced to seven years in jail for stealing around A$7.3 million (US$ million) from her employer Bendigo Bank, had become addicted to gambling.

Naturally enough Crown Casino, like other casinos involved in similar situations, has come in for criticism for doing insufficient to detect an addicted gambler. The high profile case of a gambler at New Zealand’s Dunedin Casino recently caused a brief temporary closure of that casino. Unfortunately these instances give ammunition to those who say that too many casinos are more concerned with their daily revenue figures than with the welfare of their clients.

Although the new Gambling Act 2005 will next year bring further changes to Britain’s gambling scene, one thing that will not change is the law against offering enticements to players. The free meals and free drinks offered to good customers in most casinos around the world are not expected to take root in the UK casino culture, and operating under these terms may prove a challenge to overseas managers accustomed to this form of marketing their product.

How much difference access to the seemingly ‘good life’ offered by casinos to their best customers actually makes to a pathological gambler is debateable. One could presume that the player involved would already be gambling beyond their means before becoming eligible for the attention and free gifts. What is not debateable is that casino management should be making every effort not to derive increasing revenue figures from those few unfortunates with compulsive personalities.

Staff training and public education have long been prescribed for minimising problem gambling. Governments long attached to gaming tax revenue are at last making efforts to ensure legislation aimed at preventing gambling addiction and ensuring treatment for those who succumb is included in amendments to gambling laws. What is also needed is recognition of the fact that treating gambling addicts requires an understanding that stopping gambling is not a cure for the illness. This involves finding the root cause of the problem, which is not gambling but a personality disorder. (E-12.07.06)

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