The gambling environment and gambling problems in Western Australia

Background Gambling-related harm is a widely recognized global public health challenge, yet comparatively little work has examined how differences in gambling environments relate to patterns of gambling behavior and harm. In Australia, Western Australia (WA) provides a distinctive regulatory setting in which electronic gaming machines (EGMs) are restricted to a single casino, while lotteries operate under public monopoly.Method Using nationally representative self-report data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (2015–2018; 29,517 respondents), we compared gambling participation, expenditure and problems (PGSI scores) in WA with the rest of Australia.Results WA residents were 76% less likely to gamble on EGMs (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.18–0.32) and more than twice as likely to use lotteries (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.86–2.30). Overall gambling participation was higher in WA, but total expenditure recorded in HILDA was similar across jurisdictions. However, average PGSI scores were lower in WA (–0.26, p < 0.01), consistent with differences in overall environmental product mix, rather than within-product differences in gambling problems. PGSI scores among people using EGMs and lotteries did not differ by jurisdiction.Conclusions These findings indicate that WA’s regulatory settings are associated with a distinctive gambling environment characterized by lower engagement with high-risk EGMs, and greater engagement with lower-risk lotteries. By drawing on a nationally representative dataset distinct from that used in previous work on WA, this study extends prior evidence on product-mix differences across jurisdictions and highlights how variation in environmental product availability influences population patterns of gambling problems.