A new study from Australia has found that people with gambling problems represent the majority of late-night poker machine players.

The Impact of Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) Late Night Play on EGM Player Behaviours study found almost two thirds of people playing poker machines between 2am and 8am experiencing significant negative consequences.

The study estimated that 3.1 per cent of people gambling between 8am-10pm had severe gambling problems, increasing to 7.3 per cent between 10pm-12am, 12.1 per cent between 12am-2am and 22.6 per cent between 2am-8am. 

A further 41.8 per cent of gamblers playing between 2am-8am were classified as moderate risk of gambling problems.

“There is a group of EGM gamblers who from a gambling behavioural and participation viewpoint are more intense EGM gamblers,” the study concluded. “That is, they gamble in more types of venues, more frequently, spend more money in a session, gamble more days of the week, are members of loyalty schemes across two or three venue types, are more likely to gamble alone and consequently have significantly higher levels of problem gambling risk.

“This group of EGM gamblers would benefit greatly from venue closures, through an enforced break from EGM gambling.”

The Australian government said that it will consider the report’s findings as part of its package of gaming reforms and has already committed an additional $10m in annual funding to the Responsible Gambling Fund to deliver programs to prevent and reduce gambling harms.