Fewer Canberrans are gambling and they're spending less, the first major study of gambling in Canberra in five years has found.
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But problem gambling appears unchanged, with about 4700 Canberrans having significant or severe problems, a rate unchanged since 2009.
Of those, 3400 have significant gambling problems and 1300 have severe problems, the report, from the Australian National University's Centre for Gambling Research, found.
Lottery and poker machines are the most common forms of gambling, with one-third of adults playing lotto and 20 per cent playing poker machines. The proportion playing poker machines is down from 30 per cent in 2009. But among people who gamble weekly, almost half (46 per cent) are playing poker machines.
More than half of weekly gamblers are also reporting losses of $1000 or more a year; 9 per cent of them lose more than $5000 a year.
Overall, spending on poker machines is falling, down 17 per cent in real terms (after inflation) in the five years, reinforcing the message from Canberra's clubs that their finances are squeezed.
But significant problem gambling doesn't show the same clear downward trend. The survey found 5.4 per cent of adults have some problem gambling symptoms, with 1.5 per cent having a moderate or severe problem.
Poker machines are the main form of gambling for moderate-risk or problem gamblers, with more than three-quarters of them playing pokies.
Gambling harms - stress, depression, smoking and drinking, family problems, financial problems and the like - were evident among people playing poker machines at least weekly, with 16 per cent of them reporting a gambling-related harm. Twenty-eight per cent of people with moderate and severe gambling problems are also smokers.
Study authors Tanya Davidson and Bryan Rodgers remark on the significant drop in the number of people gambling and the amount of money spent, but they point out also that people with problems still report a wide range of harms and are no more likely to seek help than they were four years ago.
"It is heartening that problem gambling is not an increasing burden in the ACT and may even be on a downward trend. However the difficulties faced by gamblers when they do encounter serious problems are no more likely to be acknowledged and addressed than they were five years ago," they conclude.
A small proportion of the population was responsible for a large proportion of the gambling, as well as the time spent and the money lost.
"In short, gambling participation, gambling problem and the broader harms arising from gambling are concentrated in parts of the community."
Per-capita spending on gambling is steadily falling from a peak about 2001, when Canberra adults were spending an average of $1320 for every adult, Nationally, the figure was $1420. In 2013-14, Canberrans spent an average of $780, compared with the national average of $1170.
The survey was of 7068 Canberrans in late 2014 and early 2015, with more than 2000 taking part in more detailed interviews.
