Gambling and Homelessness a growing problem amongst older Australians
An Invisible problem
Older Australians are the fastest growing homeless population in the country. However, there is an increase in the number of people from this demographic also struggling with gambling.
Monash University’s Dr Brian Vandenberg led new research alongside fellow researchers, Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor Adrian Carter, and Professor Kerry O’Brien from the Monash Addiction and Research Centre (MARC) to investigate whether gambling leads to homelessness or homelessness leads to gambling.
Their qualitative investigation found that homelessness and gambling are interconnected and one often contributes to the other.
Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, said that it wasn’t surprising to learn many homeless people have problems with gambling, however it was concerning to learn that the problem is going unnoticed.
“It’s an invisible problem across society. While it is not uncommon for people to be screened for substance use, when it comes to gambling, it is not taken as seriously despite being just as addictive.”
Being “groomed” to gamble
Their research found there are many reasons why more Australians are resorting to gambling, including changes to lifestyle, decreases in income, mental health issues, and having other addictive behaviours.
Furthermore, gambling institutions are taking advantage of older Australians who are in vulnerable situations, by “grooming” them to gamble.
“Most people using gambling machines are older Australians and the institutions where they are gambling at are not stepping in to intervene,” Associate Professor Livingstone said.
“They create a hospitable environment for these people and encourage them to lose all their money on their machines.”
“We have this diabolical problem where the fastest growing group of homeless people in the country are the most vulnerable and also seem to be amongst a growing group developing gambling related problems.”
What needs to be done?
This preliminary research will hopefully lead to a more detailed understanding of the relationship between gambling and homelessness.
However, Associate Professor Livingstone said that things can be implemented now to help older Australians and anyone else who may be struggling with gambling and homelessness.
“Services need a better understanding of gambling harms, and they need to treat it as seriously as they do other substance use issues. They also need to implement screening interventions for clients to determine if they have a gambling problem in the first place.”
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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