Reaping the whirlwind of a new generation hooked on gambling

Sports betting has exploded in Australia.

New figures show the numbers of people betting on sport has doubled in the last five years alone.

Today more than a quarter of all men aged 18-24 and a third of men aged 25-34 now bet on sport.

Tragically, more than one third of all spending on sports betting is now coming from people with a gambling problem.

And for some betting companies up to 20% off their customer base is made up of problem gamblers, according to research by Roy Morgan.

Australia is being shaken by the social harm gambling causes. But these figures show the misery, debt,  increased mental health issues, partner violence and even suicide will be manifold in the near future.

We will reap the whirlwind of a new generation hooked on gambling and devastated by its impact.

The financial loss from gambling is obvious, but such losses also cause chronic health and mental health issues, family break ups and partner violence.

We know from research that violence is three times more likely to occur in families in which there is problem gambling.

Gambling increases both the frequency and the severity of family violence.

Researchers believe that up to 20% of all suicides in Australia are linked to gambling.

In Sweden, research shows that people with what academics technically call ‘a gambling disorder’ are 15 times more likely to take their life than the general population.

If this is the dire result of Australia’s annual $25 billion in gambling losses, what will the impact on our community be when we see the impact of a new generation of gamblers.

Sports betting is the fastest growing form of gambling in Australia.

The gambling industry has successfully ensnared young people, including our children, into gambling.

There is evidence of a cynical, targeted, and significant campaign to get our children to gamble. Much of this is through a ‘subterranean’ assault on through tailored social media campaigns.

But what is more overt is the marriage of sport and gambling that has been consummated by the major sporting codes.

A child aged 14 has never seen a sporting event on commercial television without being assailed by contact gambling advertising and have the betting odds regularly quoted.

But this problem is one we can fight. We can reduce gambling harm now and perhaps not reap the full extent of the coming whirlwind.

Indeed, the Federal Government has in its hands the perfect blueprint for reducing gambling harm in the form of the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into online gambling that was headed by their own Peta Murphy MP.

The parliamentary inquiry found that the “inescapable torrent” of gambling advertising is normalising online gambling and its links with sport is grooming children and young people to gamble and encouraging riskier behaviour.

The 31 recommendations of the Murphy Report, including a three year, phased-in ban on all gambling advertising, will go a long way to reduced gambling harm in Australia.

The government has held the recommendations from the Murphy inquiry now for more than 12 months.

There is evidence that during this time there has been a furious lobbying effort by the gambling industry, the sporting codes, and free-to-air television.

Of course, no political party wants to stoke a fight with the media industry with a Federal election looming on the horizon.

But such is the white-hot anger in the community at the proliferation of gambling ads that both the government and the opposition will ignore it at their peril.

Studies show that 7 in 10 Australians believe there are too many betting advertisements, and that gambling advertising on television should be banned; and parents in particular are concerned about their children’s vulnerability to gambling advertising.

Perhaps our best option at creating any real significant online gambling reform is if the Federal Opposition came out and expressed its support for the Murphy Report recommendations.

Peter Dutton has in the past expressed his concern about the proliferation of gambling advertising.

If the Opposition declared it would support the reform recommendations, it would provide greater protection for the government to act on it.

Virtually everyone in the Federal Parliament understands that we need reforms to online gambling.

But it is likely not all have the political courage to act on their beliefs.

The gambling industry outspends most when it comes to political lobbying and political donations.

Perhaps it is no surprise that gambling reform in Australia has lagged behind the rest of the world.

It is the reason we are today the country that suffer the greatest gambling losses in the world per capita … and by some margin.

We have a golden opportunity now to implement a raft of well-considered reforms that will protect Australians from gambling harm. They will also help us start to tackle the impact of the next generation who have been cynically groomed to gamble.

It is an opportunity we must not squander.