European Gambling Conference - Slovenia

Kate Roberts- (GIS chairperson) visited Slovenia to attend the European Association of Gambling Studies Conference in July and present her paper – Hidden Carers. (This paper she will be presenting at the National Association of Gambling Studies in Adelaide this December). The following is a short summary of the three day conference and her impressions on the European Gambling Scene.

So... how do you sum up an intensive few days in a foreign country trying to get your head around a European gambling market place with its individual country legislation and then the overarching European Commission – a bit mind boggling was my first impression.

It was a very interesting experience and a forum I would be happy to keep in touch with as we move further into considering a global market place. If the gambling industry is heading this way – we as counsellors and consumers need to think globally too. Hence my participation in the Gambling and Public Health Alliance International (formerly the International Alliance on Gambling Harm) – established at the PGNF/AUT New Zealand Conference last February – but that's another story.

To give you an idea of the kind of papers presented at this conference there was a mixture (as in many gambling studies conferences) of treatment and policy papers. What was missing though by comparison to our own National Conference was a stream of information on public health or more community interventions. In this area I think Australia and New Zealand are making significant head way.

It was fascinating to hear a round up from a variety of European nations and of course wave the flag for our own, as was well as enjoy our mates across the ditch (the Zealanders). There was a contingent of Aussies/NZ about 12 strong and encouraging to see a young Aussie psychology student presenting her work in the Poker Tournaments in our hotels and clubs. I was particularly interested in Michael O’Neil’s presentation on the cost vs. benefits analysis from Adelaide Uni.

Overall my impression was that internet gambling is a major force in the European market place and that the European Commission’s work is driving responsible gamble policy more than perhaps the individual countries. My discussions with one of their officers seemed to indicate that such emphasis and leverage is only possible when a Country is reviewed for non- compliance with some of the EU gambling regulations with regards “harmonisation policy” meaning legislation to enhance EU market competition and reduce economic protectionism by individual member States (Countries). These potentially penalising reviews are also opportunities to discuss and enhance Responsible Gambling policies- it would appear this is still very much in the development stage at the individual Country level. This EU Commission officer was also very interested in the Gambling Impact Society as a consumer organisation – as it seems no such comparative organisation exists in Europe –AS YET!

In the breaks it was networking as usual and meeting counselling practitioners, regulators and industry personnel. A time for getting to know each other, sharing ideas and appreciating some other perspectives. For instance Estonia has only 3 PG counsellors for the whole country – they are desperate for resources so card swapping commenced.

As someone who is often eager to contribute to debet, it was also important to button the lip on occasions. An example being when an International Gaming Technology (the largest manufacturer Electronic Gaming Machines globally) presenter announced “we are not in the business of mental health” when describing her business and went on to close the presentation with a Gambler Anonymous reference which clearly the industry like to parry out on these occasions - all about individual self responsibility and not a word about industry responsibility. I felt like saying – as major stakeholder in an industry where 44% of the profits come from 15% of the product consumers (gamblers) who have major addictions – you are most definitely in the “business” of mental health.

However, Prudence prevailed – always good to have her as a travelling companion and her colleague Patience!! I just rather felt that these days you would have few industry members get up and publicly say that at a conference in Australia – they may think it – but that's another matter. I thought by comparison we have developed a broader culture of responsibility – there is still a long way to go but I felt proud that in the Antipodes we have made some ground on this issue. In fact we have a lot to offer others, as well as learn from them and such collaboration is yet further opportunity to not only “act local” but think and act global.

For those interested in the papers presented at the conference you can access them via the EAGS website:

www.easg.org

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