Illegal betting market costing Australian racing industry $135 million a year

A series of inquiries, triggered by investigations by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, found both Crown and Star guilty of multiple money-laundering failures and alleged associations with criminal groups. It also led to the stricter regulations on gaming, and poker machines specifically, that has affected both Crown and Star’s revenue. He said the additional tax impost might have derailed the $8.9 billion sale of Crown to Blackstone, which eventually went ahead to give Packer a lucrative exit from the casino industry. Packer was the major owner of Crown, which operates casinos in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. In this paper, we examine whether gambling participation has continued to increase, since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, or continue to gradually fall in line with a trend that began prior to the pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 on gambling participation and on the levels of problem gambling risk received attention early on in the pandemic, showing an overall reduction in gambling frequency and expenditure in 2020 (Hodgins & Stevens, 2021).

Total gambling expenditure (net losses) in Australia that year was just over $24 billion, a decrease from $25.9 billion in 2018–19. However, this significant fall is primarily due to COVID-19 restrictions and nothing more. With that amount of money, you could buy the average Australian house nearly 265,000 times.

• The impacts of COVID-19 on gambling participation and on the levels of problem gambling risk received attention early on in the pandemic, showing an overall reduction in gambling frequency and expenditure in 2020 (Hodgins & Stevens, 2021).
• But if they did, they would imply that some Australians must suffer immense harm so that others can pay a little less for sport, or punt a little more seamlessly.
• If Australian governments are serious about preventing gambling harm, they will need to bolster their efforts and take action to both reduce the pervasiveness of gambling in Australia and make gambling safer.
• Over the past 3 years I’ve spoken to many people who have experienced a family member in a very similar situation as my brothers, losing their life savings and living in a delusional world where they believe they “didn’t have a problem with gambling”.

2.3 Most people will be unaffected by our proposed reforms

Federal and state governments should brave the vested interests and work together in the interests of all Australians to make gambling a safer, better bet. That would go a long way to reducing Australians’ excessive exposure to gambling. Pokies and online betting are particularly addictive and harmful, leading to serious harm for hundreds of thousands of Australians.

Gambling participation and harm on the rise in Australia, new study reveals

It difficult to stop.107 And any value of these campaigns as a reminder is drowned out by the torrent of gambling advertising. The individualistic approach is promoted by the gambling industry.105 Blaming problems on a small group of ‘aberrant’ individuals absolves the industry of responsibility, and diminishes the case for stronger action by governments. Gambling is also linked to domestic and family violence.83 Financial and emotional stress – particularly men’s anger or shame – from gambling can heighten the risk of violence.84 And some people use gambling as a form of escape from violence, compounding the harm. In many communities in NSW, particularly poorer communities, it’s difficult to find a venue that doesn’t have pokies (Figure 1.4).

Pokies and betting pose particularly great risks of harm

This will be especially important given the roadmap will take several years to fully implement. Taking action across all jurisdictions is likely to be the most effective way to stand up to the vested interests. It makes it harder for the industry to go after individual politicians, parties, or governments, as it has done in the past (see Chapter 2). Australia should introduce a gambling warning label,201 so that people know when a game contains gambling-like features. This would help gamers of all ages avoid exposure to gambling if they wish, and it may be particularly helpful for parents to reduce their children’s incidental exposure to gambling.

Gambling simpsonshotel.com companies and peak bodies apply pressure to our politicians through every avenue to protect their profits. “We go on football apps and things like that and the first thing that they see when they try and watch a replay of the game is gambling ads,” he said. Shayne Rodgers has not gambled for more than a decade, but he said he now worries about his son’s exposure to gambling. Among those identified as regular monthly gamblers, 7.7 per cent were considered high risk. Gambling harm included stress, borrowing money, skipping meals or selling things to fund gambling. Lead author Dr Gabriel Tillman said the proportion of people surveyed who experienced gambling-related harm was equivalent to around 3 million Australians.