OPINION PIECES

This bully industry is used to getting its own way, but someone has to stop it, writes Tim Costello.

I know something about the power and fury of the NSW pokies industry. I remember pulling out of a public debate in Sydney, when former MP Peter Garrett and I were warned by the Federal Police they could not protect us from angry pokies crowds.

At a time when it seems every political leader is happy to join the pile-on against our two major supermarkets, there is a stunning resistance to levelling any criticism at our two major sporting codes despite their wholehearted embrace of gambling and the damage it is causing, especially during a cost-of-living crisis.

The AFL and the NRL are profiting at the expense of their supporters and embedding gambling advertising so deeply within the games that a whole new generation of supporters are indoctrinated in the odds just as much as the code.

There are moments in every prime minister’s life where they face real tests. How they respond in those moments indelibly shapes their government’s future, and their legacy as either a true leader or a partisan plodder.

For John Howard, the test came just a few weeks into his first term of government, following the Port Arthur massacre.

The gambling lobby has a well-thumbed playbook developed from earlier health warnings and advertising restrictions on tobacco and alcohol.

Never pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton.

This, now rather antiquated quote, often attributed to Mark Twain was a warning about the power of the then newspaper barons.

While the technology has changed, the media barons of Australia still wield unholy power in the Australian political landscape today.

It is why the Albanese government has agonised for more than year over the recommendations of the Murphy Report, 31 recommendations that come from a parliamentary inquiry chaired by one of their very own, Peta Murphy who lost her battle with cancer last year.

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.

The ACT is among the most advanced in the country in pushing towards a mandatory, cashless gambling card.

Evidence shows such a card with pre-set and binding limits will be the best weapon we have in effectively curbing gambling harm.

And according to the NSW Crime Commission it will not only limit gambling harm but it will also tackle the billions of dollars from the proceeds of crime that is fed into poker machines across the country every year.

Our kids are being deliberately targeted and groomed by the gambling industry.

A new pilot study released by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education last week revealed children as young as 14 were being targeted by social media ads urging them to download gambling apps on their phones.

Amid the national spotlight that has finally shone on Australia’s domestic violence crisis, the AFL decided that in all their games last weekend they would highlight the issue with a minute’s silence before play.

While it was poignant to see young men standing in solidarity with women against violence, for the AFL itself the move was hypocritical.

The AFL reaps multiple millions of dollars from gambling sponsorship and advertising – the losses from gambling are a substantial factor fuelling domestic violence – so without greater action against gambling the league is simply ‘virtue signalling’.

Faced with inaction from government, some pokies venues are taking matters into their own hands to stem community losses from gambling, writes Alliance for Gambling Reform CEO Carol Bennett.

There is a growing backlash against gambling in Australia.

Across Australia’s eastern states, clubs and pubs are increasingly shunning poker machines.

In some cases, it’s a response to falling revenue, but mostly it is a response by clubs and pubs to the growing anger across the nation about the intolerable and devastating gambling losses we all pay a price for.

Australians lose more to gambling than any other country on a per capita basis. Our losses top a staggering $25 billion every year – and poker machines (in our pubs and clubs alone) account for more than $14 billion of these loses.

Is Australia's political system corrupt?

Can money and power buy the outcomes it wants and do our political leaders yield to their influence if it aligns with their own personal interests or the interests of their party?

If Tasmania successfully progresses with its plans to introduce a cashless pokies card, it will represent a 'gold standard' in reducing gambling harm.

When is a parliamentary inquiry not a real parliamentary inquiry? When the minister responsible decides to hold a series of private meetings, behind closed doors, with organisations that have a vested interest in the outcome – many of which didn’t bother to put in a submission to the public inquiry.

It’s time for the not-for-profit sector to step up and champion the need for gambling reform, writes the chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tim Costello.

Australia has a dire need for the philanthropic sector to fund efforts to curb gambling harm in Australia.

The need is critical because of the catastrophic failure of government to protect our community from the impact of gambling.

Australians lose more to gambling – $24 billion annually – per capita than any other country on the planet.

Australia has a very big blind spot when it comes to gambling and the immense harm it causes in the community.

Gambling harm is not treated as a public health issue like other ‘harmful, legal’ products such as tobacco or alcohol. There is little or no government funding of research or public education to better understand just how harmful gambling can be.

Of course, it is not a natural blind spot; it is one that has been carefully curated and bankrolled by the billion-dollar gambling industry.

It is an industry that outspends virtually all others when it comes to advertising, with over a million gambling advertisements broadcast on free-to-air television and on radio alone in the 12 months to April 2023.

This week Sydney University announced it has established a centre for excellence in gambling research. This centre is substantially funded by the International Center (sic) for Responsible Gaming, as well as Entain Australia and Sportsbet.

Entain Australia and Sportsbet are subsidiaries of international gambling operators, and run major online bookmaking businesses in Australia, as well as other global operations.

New research undertaken by Federation University in collaboration with the Coroners Court of Victoria, examined the Victorian Suicide Register which revealed at least 184 suicides were directly related to gambling. There were another 17 gambling-attributed suicides by "affected others" such as family members.

The ACT should be among the first jurisdictions in Australia to introduce significant gambling reform in the shape of a mandatory cashless gambling card.

The move would be groundbreaking, representing a major blow to a predatory gambling industry that costs Australians more than $27 billion in losses every year - more per capita than any other country on the planet.

Australia is approaching a tipping point on gambling reform. After decades of inaction, that has allowed Australian’s to be fleeced of $26 billion a year in gambling losses, there is now a chance of real reform. 

And while there are several fronts where the war on gambling is being fought across Australia, Tasmania is at the forefront of the battle.  

Anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello is full of praise for Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' recently announced pokies reforms. Now he wants other leaders to follow suit.

Two weeks ago, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews announced sweeping reforms for pokies. For me, after 25 years of campaigning, it was the beginning of the end of a state government protection racket for a predatory industry that has caused so much harm to Victorians. Congratulations, Dan.