A summary of results of a consumer survey with adults who regularly gamble on poker machines that assesses their risk of gambling-related harm. The research can inform policies that aim to reduce gambling harm by limiting time, spending and access to poker machines. 

Key messages

• For survey  respondents, very extended pokies sessions were more common among individuals at higher risk of gambling harm than among those at lower risk.
• For those at high risk of gambling harm, the median duration of their most recent pokies session was 2 hours, and 1 hour for those at moderate risk. It was 45 minutes for those at low or no risk of gambling harm.
• Evidence suggests that an earlier intervention of less than 3 hours (a time limit recently adopted by some casinos) may strike a more appropriate balance between avoiding interruptions during gambling for people at lower risk of gambling harm and intervening for those at higher risk.
• Survey respondents at lower risk of gambling harm tended to keep to smaller amounts of $50 or less when setting their load up limit.
• Lower load up limits of $20 or $50 would target spending behaviour relatively common among individuals at high risk of gambling hard while minimising the impact on those at lor or no risk.
• Gambling after midnight and during the early hours of the morning was more common among respondents who were at a higher risk of gambling harm.
• Introducing or extending mandatory venue closures to between midnight and 10am (rather than 4am to 10am) would target gambling behaviour more common among individuals at higher risk of gambling harm.