Reducing the risk for consumers:

The Productivity Commission established an inquiry into gambling early in 2009, for which PIAC made a submission in April 2009. In the April submission PIAC’s recommendations focussed on consumers and their families where gambling is a problem. PIAC supported a review of how prevention and treatment services for problem gamblers are funded and recommended changes to regulations to allow a separate cause of action for individual problem gamblers affected by a failure by a gambling venue to comply with its statutory obligations. The Productivity Commission released its draft report of the inquiry for comment in October 2009. PIAC was encouraged that many of the draft recommendations reflected PIAC’s position in its initial submission. However, more attention should have been given to protection of special needs groups, including Aboriginal communities, young people, people with co-morbidities, people with intellectual or psychiatric disability and low-income groups.In response, PIAC submits that taken as a whole, implementation of the Commission’s draft recommendations would greatly improve protection for gamblers, particularly problem gamblers. The submission focuses on the Commission’s request for comment on how a statutory cause of action could be implemented.