Sydney Uni Gambling Treatment Clinic
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Updated November 30, 2014 20:49:32
A radical new approach to treating problem gambling is using mathematics to prove to punters that they can never beat the system.
Researchers at Sydney University's Gambling Treatment Clinic have been able to reduce their clients' gambling by 80 to 90 per cent by lifting the lid on how the gambling industry works.
The program has been developed by Dr Fadi Anjoul, who found that previous approaches that treated gambling as an addiction had limited success.
Known as Cognitive Deconstructional Therapy, it works by teaching gamblers about mathematical concepts such as probability and randomness.
Facts about gambling
- 65 per cent of people in NSW gambled at least once in the past 12 months
- Australians lose $19 billion on gambling each year
- Problem gamblers incur 22 to 60 per cent of the overall losses in Australia
Dr Anjoul shaped his ideas after observing that his clients who played poker machines shared the same misconceptions about how the machines worked.
They believed that pokies were pre-programmed to pay out a certain percentage and that they did so in cycles.
Both notions are wrong, according to Dr Anjoul.
'Every single person that we've treated who plays poker machines has come in with that belief,' he said.
'A belief that the more losing that occurs, the closer you are to winning. So when you're down you continue to gamble because you think a machine is due to pay.
'And when you're up you continue to gamble because you think it will pay more.'
He teaches his clients that poker machines are completely random and that chasing your losses is ultimately futile.
'In other words they come with no predictability whatsoever,' he said.
'In other words, you're playing the machine under false pretences.'
He believes it is this misunderstanding of how pokies work that leads people to continue gambling even after they have incurred significant losses.
Rather than seeking a thrill, he said the motivation to keep going is a dogged but misguided belief that they can recoup the money they have lost.
'Yes it is the case that if you play a machine long enough you will eventually find yourself with a fairly big win,' he said.
'What's missing from that whole proposition is, how long did it take you to get there? What was the cost?
'What you'll realise is that across your lifetime, your losses far exceed anything you could possibly make in a discrete period.'
All punters may benefit from tailored treatment
Fellow psychologist Rowan Burckhardt has adapted the treatment for other forms of gambling, including horse betting.
'What we have to address is you believe that you're a better punter and you believe you're able to turn a profit when in fact you haven't been able to do that and can't do that,' he said.
'The only way you can turn a profit from horse betting is finding what they call value bets.
What you'll realise is that across your lifetime, your losses far exceed anything you could possibly make in a discrete period.
'Value bets are where the odds offered are better than what the probability of that horse winning is.'
Such bets are few and far between.
Over a 12 month period, only 5 per cent of TAB betting accounts are turning a profit.
Over a number of years, that figure drops down to less than 1 per cent.
Mr Burckhardt said once his clients understood the odds were stacked against them, gambling lost much of its allure.
'If we believe we are going to win, we get excited,' he said.
'If we don't believe we are going to win, we don't get excited and it becomes almost boring.'
The team at the Gambling Treatment Clinic use marbles and dice to demonstrate how probability and randomness work.
Over time, they systematically challenge the client's belief that he or she can beat the system.
'The success rate is really high,' Mr Burckhardt said.
'About 90 to 95 per cent of my clients either stops or gets their gambling right down to a level they want to be doing.'
Problem gambler says treatment works
Anthony O'Sullivan's love of gambling started early.
'Dad used to hold the bag for a bookie and he used to give me $2 to put a bet on as a kid so growing up it was always part of me,' he said.
It became a problem when he started earning money.
'I'd be going to the ATM at lunchtime, getting all my money out, putting it all through the poker machines or on the horses,' he said.
'It'd be gone by the end of lunch and I'd be back at work.'
Over the next 16 years he estimates he lost around $500,000.
'You're forever going back to the bank to get more money out, saying in your head this is wrong but you can't control yourself,' he said.
'You keep going, trying to win it back. You lose, you lose, then it spirals.
'Anywhere from suicidal thoughts to what am I going to do? I'm useless.
It makes you realise what you're up against and you go, it's not worth it.
'What am I doing to my family? Real bad.'
Six years ago he decided to seek help. An internet search led him to the Gambling Treatment Clinic.
Mr O'Sullivan said the approach worked for him because it focussed on controlling his gambling rather than abstinence.
'Not just like you can't do it, stop, no more,' he said.
'It makes you realise what you're up against and you go, it's not worth it.'
He still enjoys the occasional flutter and apart from one or two relapses, he now has his gambling under control.
'I'm feeling pretty good about myself and doing this (interview) I reckon is a big help,' he said.
Sydney University Gambling Treatment Clinic
'Getting the story out there and not being afraid to tell it, helping other people.
Sydney Uni Gambling Treatment Clinical
'A lot of blokes would be embarrassed about it, which I was, and am when I lose control of it, but I'm sick of hiding behind it.
'I want to help myself, help my family and get over this problem I have.'
Topics:gambling, sydney-2000, nsw, australia
First posted November 30, 2014 11:10:26
Dr Christopher John Hunt is a registered clinical psychologist working at the University of Sydney's Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic. He completed his PhD in social psychology at the University of Sydney in 2012. His PhD research was entitled 'Links Between Masculinity Threats and Increased Gender Conformity: An Investigation of New Empirical Directions, Process and Individual Differences' and focused on the maintenance of gender role norms. He previously completed a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) (Honours) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Psychology (Clinical) from the University of New South Wales. Dr Hunt also completed a research fellowship at the University of Trieste (Italy) in 2014, and spent some time visiting the University of Padua (Italy) in 2012.
Dr Hunt first began work at the University's Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic in early 2007 and has gained wide recognition for his work with problem gamblers. He has been asked to testify before both federal and state parliamentary committees on gambling, has been extensively quoted on gambling in local, national and international media, and has written several pieces on gambling for lay audiences. He is also responsible for providing clinical supervision to intern psychologists who are working at the clinic, and organises training seminars for other mental health practitioners working in the field of problem gambling.