Gamblers tell their stories: Life patterns of gambling

1. INTRODUCTION
Gambling is an accessible and popular activity in Victoria and more widely in Australia.
Recent research into gambling and problem gambling in Victoria (Department of Justice,
Victoria, 2011; Hare, 2009) has shown that Victorians gamble on a variety of activities. The
most popular activity was buying lottery or raffle tickets with the Department of Justice
survey of over 5000 adults finding that over 60% of respondents reported buying raffle
tickets, taking part in sweeps/competitions, or playing lottery games over the past year.
Electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling and betting on horse or greyhound racing were
also found to be very popular with almost 30% of people reporting playing EGMs or betting
on the races (horse, harness or greyhound races) (Department of Justice, Victoria, 2011).
The majority of people who gamble learn to manage their gambling at a safe level, although
they may find they lose control at times (Dickerson, Haw & Shepherd, 2003; Productivity
Commission, 2010). However, gambling can become risky and problematic for some people.
Symptoms of problematic gambling include losing control of gambling, spending increasing
amounts of money, spending more than intended and gambling for increasing periods of
time (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).Recent estimates suggest that between 1.9%
and 3.1% of Australian gamblers are at moderate or high risk of gambling problems, and that
0.5-1% of Australian adults are currently experiencing severe gambling problems
(Productivity Commission, 2010). Further, if you consider regular gamblers (those who
gamble weekly or more), the percentage “at risk” increases to 15%. Given the popularity of
gambling in Australia and its risk to a significant proportion of gamblers, it is important to
understand how, when and why some people experience problems with their gambling and
why others do not. One way of doing this is to examine the complexity of gambling behaviour
across the lifespan.
The vast majority of gambling research to date has taken a quantitative, cross-sectional
approach. This type of research has provided valuable information about gambling and
gambling problems. However, a hypothetico-deductive paradigm is constructed to test
exiting theory rather than to discover new theory and is restricted in the number of concepts
which can be investigated within a single study. Cross-sectional research provides
information about a single point in time. Qualitative approaches can provide a valuable
counterpoint by generating deep insights into people’s experiences of gambling and the
multitude of different events that have influenced people’s gambling patterns and behaviours
at different times in their lives.
1