Responsible Gambling Awareness Week has been described as a chance to take a step back and look at whether your betting is causing harm.
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Mission Australia gambling counsellor Gemma Hobbs, who specialises in helping Aboriginal clients in Wagga, said it was hard to separate many social events from betting.
"I would say maybe there is an expectation to gamble, not so much a pressure," she said.
"There's an expectation definitely in that it's an Australian passtime; we are pretty prolific gamblers in Australia.
"Because it is so normalised in our culture through massive events like the Melbourne Cup, I think an expectation for people to place a bet when they go out to sports events or racing is there.
"It does make it hard to dissociate those kinds of events from gambling."
Responsible Gambling Awareness Week started on Monday.
Ms Hobbs said saturation advertising and smartphone gambling apps did not help with people trying to keep their gambling in check.
"They are very much targeting a lot of people with the knowledge of what apps they are playing," she said.
"We know that younger and younger people are having problems with gambling...it's more males than females concerned about their gambling at younger ages.
"With the development of different apps and games, more and more young people and kids are being exposed to it earlier."
Ms Hobbs said there were a variety of ways for people to asses their gambling and look out for signs in others
"It includes asking whether they are spending less and less time with people and more time isolated and alone, particularly at a venue," she said.
"Are they experiencing financial difficulties or asking to borrow money more often.
"Those are some tell-tale signs. This week's theme is 'Checking in' and it's all about checking in with people who might be having mental health issues related to gambling."
The Wagga Family Support Service will be hosting a free screening of the 'Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation' documentary film at Wagga City Council at 12.30pm on September 19.
Region's gambling by the numbers
Australians are famous for their tendency to gamble, losing the equivalent of $1300 per person every year, and the Riverina is no exception.
Wagga punters lost more than $20 million to pub and club poker machines in just six months according to the the latest data from May this year..
Liquor and Gaming NSW's data stated that across the Wagga local government area in the latter half of 2018, clubs made net profits on their machines of $9.29 million and hotels $11.01 million, increasing by $1.67 million from the same period in 2017.
Mission Australia gambling counsellor Gemma Hobbs said about 500,000 Australians were problem gamblers or were worried about their gambling.
"We know that 3.6 per cent of young people believe that gambling is a major concern for them," she said.