MEDIA RELEASE                 April 10, 2003



SMOKERS WHO GAMBLE ON THE ROAD TO FINANCIAL HARDSHIP



New research has found that smokers who play the pokies are more likely to
face financial difficulties such as being unable to pay a power bill or
needing to seek help from family, friend or charities.

Craig Shepherd, Principal Economist at the National Institute of Economics
and Industry Research (NIEIR) outlined research at a national conference on
smoking last week that showed smokers who play the pokies are much more
likely to experience financial hardship than those who simply smoke or play
pokies.

According to Mr Shepherd, compared to non-smoking gamblers, those who smoke
and gamble are: 
* three times more likely to be unable to pay a power or electricity
bill due to shortage of money;
* six times more likely to have pawned something; 
* five times more likely to have had cash flow problems in the past
year; and
* four times more likely to buy second hand rather than new clothes.

Mr Shepherd's research analysed Australian Bureau of Statistics data on the
household expenditure of 7,500 Australians.

"This research shows that those who are smoking and playing pokies are on
the road to poverty," he said

Mr Shepherd says his research found that about 3 out of 10 pokie players are
smokers, however, smokers spend 2 and a half times more on gambling then
non-smokers.

"We don't know if problem gamblers are more likely to be smokers because
this data doesn't allow us to identify problem gamblers."

"This research clearly shows is that people who both smoke and gamble are
experiencing far greater financial hardship than those who do one or the
other."



Zoe Furman
Media Communications Manager, Quit
Ph (03) 9635 5517/ Mob: 0408 176 934