Australian Govt urged to tackle country’s ‘gambling addiction’

A coalition of Australian politicians, sports figures and academics have urged their Government to ban all gambling advertising within three years.

An open letter, signed by 75 people including former Prime Minister John Howard, urged the country’s Prime Minister and Opposition Leader to adopt the recommendations of the Murphy Report parliamentary inquiry into online gambling.

This includes banning a “tsunami of gambling ads targeted at Australians, especially children”, as well as promotions “used to ensnare people who want to stop gambling”.

Family breakdown

The signatories warned that “Australia has a gambling addiction”, which is “escalating devastating social harm including financial loss, health and mental health issues, partner violence, family break-up and suicide”.

They highlighted that gambling firms are “grooming” an entirely new generation of gamblers, by “targeting children as young as 14 through social media” and sports events.

Howard said: “Many Australians are alarmed about the proliferation of gambling advertising on our screens and the mounting losses through gambling. I believe gambling losses are responsible for enormous harm across the community.”

He added: “As an unapologetic sports fan I am troubled by how advertising is now linked with all our major sporting codes and what message this is sending to our children.”

‘Dangerous’

Amy, not her real name, said the normalisation of gambling led to her brother’s problems before he committed suicide.

She said: “We’re dangling this dangerous product in front of everyone and normalising it, and the worst-case scenario is what happened to us. My family – they’ll never recover. It’s not something that you recover from”.

“Anyone who understands this issue would without a doubt agree to a full advertising ban – that’s what the evidence says”, but it “feels like these lobbyists own the government”.

Sean, who gambled away around AU$2 million in nearly 20 years, said: “If I never gambled, I would be married with kids right now”.

Prevalence

According to the Grattan Institute, poker machines are more common in Australian suburbs than “ATMs, post boxes or public toilets”.

The Institute’s report, ‘A better bet: How Australia should prevent gambling harm’, concluded that in addition to banning gambling advertising, the Government should introduce loss limits for poker machines and online gambling.

Chief Executive Aruna Sathanapally emphasised: “It’s time our politicians stood up to the powerful gambling lobby and reined the industry in.”