Are you a problem gambler?

Do you sweat a lot while gambling?

If so, that might be a sign that you are a problem gambler.

It is one of the “visible indicators” of problem gambling, listed in a new report that the Productivity Commission has just published.

Others include weeping, after losing a lot of money and shaking while you are gambling.

The report  says Australia’s problem gamblers lose almost $5 billion a year on poker machines alone.

It estimates, though, that Australians are now losing more than $18 billion a year, through gambling.

That’s almost as much as the $20 million we spend each year on clothes and shoes

The Commission also estimates that Australian lose $12 billion  a year on the “pokies” alone.

It says Australia has 125,000  problem gamblers.

The Commission recommends restricting bets on poker machines to $1 a time and moving automatic tellers  away from the “pokies.”

At present, people playing the pokies can lose up to $1,200 an hour.

The Commission says losses should be automatically capped at $120 an hour.

Predictably, perhaps, the Commission lists Australians living in the Northern Territory as the nation’s biggest gamblers.

The average loss, for adult Territorians who gamble, is more than $3,500 a year.

Tasmanian gamblers, though, are Australia’s most careful. They lose just $940 a year.