As highlighted by my colleague Dr Morgan Harrington, Australians are the biggest losers in the world when it comes to gambling.
Last year, Australians’ net losses from gambling (losses minus any winnings) were $34.8 billion. That’s more than households spent on electricity, gas and other fuel ($29.5 billion) and alcoholic beverages ($26.8 billion). Don’t let their slick advertising fool you; the gambling industry destroys lives year after year, and they are actively trying to target new demographics such as women.
The gambling industry regularly hides behind things like charitable donations and support for local sports teams to keep its social licence and resist regulation. However, just as we no longer allow tobacco companies to name our sports trophies, it’s time to stop letting gambling companies whitewash their reputations like this. Australia is a low-tax country with low levels of public spending; if we want to fund charitable causes, local sports clubs and communities, we can do so in a way that isn’t built on human misery.
2 Comments
How clever was it for the government to legislate that betting would be no longer restricted to the TAB and would be allowed in pubs and clubs (as well as pokies).
Alcohol. Just the stuff to interfere with a gambler risk/reward ability... rash bets == big losses.
Why would politicians do that? Let's ask some of those politicians now working in the gambling "lobby" industry....
Gambling is the issue that demonstrates the complete loss of moral seriousness of the Albanese government. Last term they had a policy ready to go but were afraid to introduce it. This term they have a huge majority and CHOOSE not to introduce the legislations. There can only be one reason. They have been got to by the evil people who control gambling. And they interpret their majority as a licence to do NOTHING progressive if it may lose them money.