Characteristics of Sydney populations which support poker machine gaming in clubs

This study represents the first stage of a larger three stage project which aims to investigate the poker machine playing behaviour of Sydney club members of different social, demographic and ethnic backgrounds in order to evaluate the adequacy of services available to Sydney populations most at risk of developing problematic gambling behaviour. The objective of this first stage was to provide an appropriate background to the survey and interview work planned for the second and third stages of the project. It aimed to identify, from secondary research, the socio-demographic characteristics which tend to support registered clubs and their poker machine gaming activities in the Sydney Statistical Division. More specifically, this study analysed data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the NSW Department of Gaming and Racing and identified distinctive sociodemographic features of adult resident populations in Sydney statistical local areas which are associated with high levels of poker machine expenditure per head of population. The study identified a profile of Sydney populations which spend highly on poker machines which broadly supports the lower socio-economic profile associated with poker machine players identified in previous Australian studies.