Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek was equally terse on morning radio, accusing the host of being “obsessed about the gambling advertising” when asked about a lack of action and the link between gambling harm and domestic violence. It has also said it wanted to keep online advertising, including on social media and streaming services, but it would only be to logged-in, age-verified accounts so it doesn’t target kids, and there would be an opt-out mechanism. Even the gambling lobby has expressed frustrations about the lack of certainty over reforms, floating their own compromises on Mega Moolah advertising limits and restrictions. Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek was equally terse on morning radio, accusing the host of being “obsessed about the gambling advertising” when asked about a lack of action and the link between gambling harm and domestic violence.

Setting a pre-commitment limit will add only a small friction to the sign-up process, and most people’s spending already falls under our proposed maximum limits. It is unlikely that there would be a major exodus to offshore providers to avoid these minor inconveniences. And in NSW – the state with almost as many pokies as the rest of the country combined – the most recent state election was fought at least in part on pokies reforms. While the policies being debated were more focused on money laundering risks than gambling harm, both major parties brought policies to the table. Gambling normalisation starts young, and sports betting advertising is a major culprit. The federal government should ban all gambling advertising, sponsorships, and inducements.

Why do Australians gamble so much?

Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox. “The PM has refused to stare down the vested interests that have been making massive profits and money from the harm and addiction of vulnerable Australians. Visit our support tools page to find out about other services and supports that are available. This includes counselling, help managing your finances and information about supporting others.

Pokies and online betting are particularly addictive and harmful, leading to serious harm for hundreds of thousands of Australians. Many Asian countries also have strict gambling regulations that only allow gambling in casinos. But in Australia, poker machines are found in the majority of pubs and sports clubs.

• While the policies being debated were more focused on money laundering risks than gambling harm, both major parties brought policies to the table.
• Predicting results for gambling purposes involves hypothesis testing, evaluating outcomes, and then reformulating hypotheses repeatedly.
• A visibly irritated prime minister quickly shut down a question from independent MP Zali Steggall when asked if relentless gambling advertising was acceptable, offering a terse “No” in reply.
• Survey of South Australian adults’ (18+) attitudes, beliefs and behaviours regarding sports betting (PDF 1.5 MB)Browne, Bryden, Russell, Rockloff, Hing, Dittman & Lastella, October 2021.
• To be approved you must meet the credit criteria and responsible lending requirements.

Taking action

Whereas in the past, gambling was restricted to public venues and the result of an event, gambling is now at our fingertips with bookmakers all over the world offering multiple bet types for any one event. Micro bets, such as whether a cricket bowler will bowl a no ball in a particular over are particularly prone to corruption or spot fixing. Our proposed reforms do not curtail the availability of legal gambling websites.

People who gamble, their families, and the broader community pay the price in their finances, health, and wellbeing. In parallel, the federal government should investigate the feasibility of a universal pre-commitment system with maximum loss limits. Problem gambling is a major public health concern in Australia and internationally (Blank et al., 2021), referring to a pattern of harmful gambling behaviours. Population prevalence estimates for past year problem gambling ranging from 0.1% to 5.8% globally (Calado & Griffiths, 2016) and from 0.7% to 1.0% in Australia (Delfabbro & King, 2021).

The Australian racing industry is losing up to $135 million in revenue each year because of offshore illegal gambling, with an estimate that one in every seven dollars spent on Australian racing is via an unregulated operator. While the study found most Australians — around 50 per cent — were considered non-risk gamblers, which means they did not experience harm related to the practice, the study found there had been a rise in people who experienced some form of gambling-related harm. The time is right for federal, state, and territory governments to come together to implement a coordinated reform package. Taking action together is likely to be the most effective way to take on the vested interests.

Time to put an end to the fairytale farewell nonsense

Gambling and tipping is as much about the shared cultural activity as it is the money. It is possible to lose money gambling, yet still derive positive self-esteem from the activity. Many of us identify strongly with our perceived skills in forecasting results. Australians lose $32 billion on legal forms of gambling each year, more per capita than anywhere in the world.

In Australia, gambling is a socially accepted behaviour, actively encouraged through more than $287 million dollars of advertising spending per year, and a source of more than seven billion dollars of revenue per year for governments. Gambling revenue for sporting bodies is also significant although exact figures are hard to obtain. Culturally, gambling behaviours are celebrated, ritualised, and even mythologised. Regulators should be wary that setting limits on how much people can lose while gambling creates an incentive for the industry to more aggressively try to increase its customer base.