During 2006 the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP) published its third major research report on gambling and problem gambling behaviour, the most comprehensive study of its kind ever undertaken in Africa. This followed similar research undertaken in 2001 and 2003. In addition to giving a reasonably comprehensive insight into how South Africans currently perceive and participate in gambling, it enables us to see to what extent and in what ways gambling behaviour has changed since the early days after the first casinos were opened and the national lottery started operations.

Findings of the 2005/6 Report

2006 NRGP National Prevalence Study: Gambling and Problem Gambling in South Africa

This past year, the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP) published its third biennial National Problem Gambling Prevalence Study, in which it revealed that the incidence of problem gambling in South Africa had dropped from 6.8% in 2003 to 4.8% in 2005, while just under 1% of adult South Africans were pathological or compulsive gamblers.

According to the executive director of the NRGP, Professor Peter Collins, "Our study reveals that 144 out of 3 003 respondents answered seven or more of the 20 Gambler's Anonymous questions affirmatively, which is noticeably less than the number in our survey in 2003. This indicates that 4.8% of those with easy access to commercial gambling gamble too much, compared to 6.8% in 2003, and these people can be categorised as problem gamblers. The research also suggests that somewhat less than 1% of this sample have an addiction to gambling which is similar to alcoholism and drug addiction.

"This is broadly in line with comparable international jurisdictions in the English-speaking world such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US, where the number of addictive or compulsive gamblers is also around 1%".

In terms of participation in gambling, the findings of the research project suggest that 81.5% of people play the lottery regularly (once a week), up from 72.3% two years ago. There had also been some growth in the number of people wagering on horses (5.9%), up from 5.7%, and table games in casinos at 2.2%, up from 1.4% in 2003. Other forms of gambling showed a slight decline compared to 2003, including slot machines at 13.9% (down from 14.1%), newspaper jackpots at 2.6% (down from 3.3%), and scratch cards at 14% (down from 15%).

The number of people who only play the lottery has grown from 41.4% two years ago to 52.5% in 2005.

The number of people who never gamble, which was 20.1% in 2003, has declined to 15% in 2005.

The study reveals that growth in the gambling industry comes principally from the lottery. Although the number of people who use slot machines has stabilised, the number who play slots regularly has declined. Horse racing is slightly up, as are table games, in overall and regular participation, but other forms of gambling, including scratch cards have declined.

Research was also conducted into gambling spend by disposable income groups, and this confirmed that all income groups are playing the lottery regularly. Out of those who gamble regularly in the lowest income groups (those with disposable monthly income below R1 400), over 70% play the lottery regularly but less than 3% play slots regularly and about 7% regularly bet on horses.

Although the lottery is played by a large proportion of people, expenditure on slots far outweighs that on the lottery, but is expended by a much smaller proportion of relatively wealthier people.

Those who play the lottery spend on average just over R81 per month, with the lottery accounting for 26.4% of total gambling spend in SA. Those who play slots spend R541 per month on average, and slots constitute 43.7 % of all gambling expenditure in the country.

Conversely, the minority of poor people who do play slot machines and horses spend a high proportion of their income doing so, whereas they spend only modestly on the lottery.

Participation in gambling is evenly distributed by race, although a higher percentage of blacks (6.2%) experience problems with their gambling than others (Indians 5%, coloureds 4.1%, and whites 2.8%).

"These findings accord with what common sense would predict. The lottery is a much more accessible product to poor people, both in terms of geography and price, whereas slot machines are a relatively expensive past time. And casinos are beyond the reach of many people in terms of cost, such as entrance fees, and price of food, drinks, other services and entertainment, as well as transport," Collins said.

Professor Collins said that the main conclusions to be drawn from the study were:

• South Africa's gambling market has matured to an equilibrium incidence of problem gambling of 4 %;
• The decrease over the past two years in the number of people who exhibit problems with their gambling is attributable largely to steps which have been taken in South Africa to address the question of problem gambling, especially public awareness and the provision of treatment services, and the effectiveness of those measures. South Africans today better understand gambling;
• The majority of South Africans, including the majority of poor people, gamble sensibly.

New Study on the Treatment of Gambling Addiction

At the beginning of 2004, an academic study of the treatment of gambling addiction in South Africa found that the NRGP’s outpatient programme for problem gamblers has a treatment success rate of 75%. The study by Miranda Bulwer *, a social worker in the NRGP’s nationwide team of 21 counsellors, evaluated the effectiveness of the NRGP’s six-week outpatient treatment programme.

The objectives of this study were to provide a detailed biopsychosocial description of the characteristics of a sample of 100 individuals screened and referred by the NRGP counselling line for their outpatient treatment programme over an eighteen month period, and, importantly, to measure the success of this specific treatment programme at set intervals, up to a one-year follow-up period.

There is evidence in the study to support the perspective that pathological gambling is a multidimensional disorder and that certain sub-groups of gamblers have distinct gambling behaviour. While 80% did not relapse during the six-week treatment programme, the number of treatment seekers without any gambling relapses during each follow-up period declined, and those falling back into gambling increased as time went on. After one year 47% of treatment seekers managed not to revert back to gambling – total abstinence. A further 28% reported having relapsed or that their gambling was controlled. 25% of treatment seekers reported that they reverted back to gambling fulltime, which leaves the success rate of the treatment at 75%. Treatment seekers reported an overall reduction in gambling participation, debt and expenditure and an overall improvement in social and vocational functioning.

Highlights: The NRGP for 2006

• More than 104 000 calls since inception have been received by the toll-free counselling line (0800 006 008). and 5 839 callers referred for free treatment by a medical professional, on average some 83 per month. More than 2 149 have received assistance telephonically.
• The multilingual treatment network, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, has been extended to 34 towns and cities in southern Africa.
• Africa's most comprehensive research study into gambling behaviour, and the incidence of problem gambling, was published.
• An extensive public advocacy campaign to promote responsible gambling has been implemented, including Africa's first-ever education campaign aimed at the adolescents and senior citizens.
• The NRGP substantially exceeded its TAP (targeted access and procurement) empowerment targets. 73.20% of all its procurement was placed with the ABE/HDI sector (against a target 33%) while 84.62% of NRGP counsellors and clinical psychologists are HDIs.
• R37-million has been invested in the programme by the private sector up to February 2006.
• Over 14 000 industry workers, along with staff from government regulatory authorities, have received formal training on the subject of compulsive and problem gambling

Education of Industry Staff

The NRGP recognises that gambling staff play a vital role in the gambling environment, as they are at the forefront in dealing with customers, providing customer care and a pleasant gambling environment. They are the most likely to have to deal with situations where punters may have a problem with gambling.

Therefore it is important that staff members are educated in the nature and extent of problem gambling. The NRGP supports the notion that staff should not be involved in diagnosing problem gamblers. Nor should they be expected to be counsellors or to police problem gamblers. However they should be equipped with the knowledge and skills required to provide a professional response to punters who identify themselves as having a gambling problem.

The NRGP does not encourage floor staff to discuss the punter’s gambling behaviour with the punter. The main outcome of the responsible gambling basic course is to equip staff to report the warning signs of problem gambling and specific problematic punters to their floor managers and supervisors. The two-hour basic course is available for all casino staff members and includes the following outcomes:

1. Definitions of the various types of gamblers, social, problem and compulsive (pathological) gamblers.
2. The warning signs of problem gambling including case studies
3. The gambling dependency process
4. The consequences of problem and pathological gambling
5. The services offered by the NRGP

Reference
* Bulwer, M. & Nieuwoudt, J.M. 2003. Treating Gambling Addiction: A Psychological Study in the South African Context. Submitted to the University of South Africa in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (SS) in the subject Psychology.