Gambling the silent epidemic among international students

The significant impacts that gambling is having on international students attending Australian schools and universities is finally bubbling to the surface despite limited focus on the issue by gambling regulators, governments or educational institutions.

News.com.au report on an Asian student gambling plague which they say is exemplified by a 17-year-old student from China losing $40,000 whilst gambling underage at Adelaide's Sky City Casino.

Whilst the issue of an underage gambler losing this much unhindered is a serious concern, what is even more pressing is that gambling amongst foreign students is a growing problem.

Students are tempted to gambling for a number of reasons. These include access to large amounts of money which have been set aside for tuition, accommodation and other living expenses or is required under their visa conditions; limited ability to earn money legally as the number of hours a foreign student can work is limited by visa conditions; greater accessibility and acceptance of gambling when compared to their home countries; and the range of factors that make gambling attractive to all players such as the ability to escape stress, loneliness etc. - factors which are highly likely amongst foreign students who may have difficulty making friends or coping in an alien environment.

Students also unfortunately in many cases are easily tempted by gambling and like many in the 18-25 age bracket can lose control more easily, losing a great deal of money in the process.

Unfortunately many universities have been slow to pick up on this problem. This is mainly due to the lack of detailed research in this area and universities needing to protect their image in order to attract students, an issue noted in the News.com.au article.

However one group that has picked up on the trend is the gaming industry in Victoria. In the past few months applications for new gaming venues have been sought for hotels that in the past have traditionally been favorites with students due to their close location with universities. The Racecourse Hotel which is directly opposite Monash University's Caulfield campus and the Glenferrie Hotel which is about 200m from Swinburne University of Technology's Hawthorn Campus have been popular drinking holes for students for many years yet despite their being a general reduction of machines in inner suburban locations in favour of the growing outer suburbs and operators at the limit of the cap, these venues are applying to get machines. It should be noted that these are old pubs which have been in their locations long before poker machines were introduced in Victoria. So why apply for a gaming licence now? Could it be that they know that the student population is a growing untapped market? After all if it was for the general population these venues would have applied for machines long ago and the gaming operators would have been encouraging them to do so.

I think it is fairly safe to put two and two together in this case and see that to put it simply these venues will make money mainly due to their proximity to the university campuses. I think it is also not a big leap to say that this will only further exacerbate this growing problem of gambling among students, particularly those from overseas.

Poker machine gambling has negatively affected the lives of so many Australians, now we have started to impact those from beyond our shores.

GG