Preventing gambling harm will reduce the gambling industry’s profits, so governments need to be prepared to stand up to strong vested interest pushback. The industry has a track record of thwarting reforms, including by stoking community fears about unintended consequences. Our other recommendations to reduce gambling exposure and introduce mandatory pre-commitment should significantly reduce gambling harm, and, consequently, demand for help services. But if the review finds that more funding for services and/or research is needed, governments could make up the gap by increasing gambling taxes and closing tax loopholes. If feasible, a universal pre-commitment system could give gamblers better information about their own spending patterns and regulators better information on broader patterns of gambling and gambling harm – data that currently only the industry itself holds.

A rejected loan application can lower your credit score, and gambling is one way to increase your chances of rejection. Per capita, Australians have the highest rate of losses to gambling in the world at US $958 each year, nearly $200 per person ahead of Hong Kong in second place and over $500 more than the United States ($421). 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. Per person, that’s an average of $9,884, although that is skewed heavily by large spenders.

• The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission has issued a fine of $100,000 to Crown Melbourne for failing to prevent an excluded person from gambling at the casino in October 2024.
• The independent regulator of Victoria’s gambling industry – ensuring integrity, safety and fairness for all.
• Limiting the sheer number of venues where pokies are present is more important than simply limiting the number of machines.
• To be approved you must meet the credit criteria and responsible lending requirements.

Gaming industry employees

If we see others we know doing something repeatedly it can become normalised, and our critical judgement may fail to activate. It is particularly important in the current Australian cultural gambling climate that we all apply our critical moral, and ethical judgement to our own, and to our friends’ gambling behaviours. It is definitely prudent to ask for the source and nature of any ‘tip’ before placing a bet. Shayne Rodgers has not gambled for more than a decade, but he said he now worries about his son’s exposure to gambling. The state government is being urged to fast-track pokies carded play, used at Crown Casino, to all of Victoria’s poker machine venues.

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

Compliance with the mandatory scheme should be a condition of holding a licence. NSW stands out in having banned political donations from gambling businesses because of the potential for influence and perception of influence.167 But gambling interests in NSW still can and do donate at the federal level. Australian governments have historically legalised and promoted a wide range of gambling options.118 Today, governments oversee a tangled web of rules and codes for Australian gambling providers119 that leaves big holes in consumer protection. Australia’s gambling regulation is a mess and does little to reduce harm, let alone prevent it. Federal and state governments have different responsibilities, but neither are doing enough. Many past attempts to strengthen consumer protections for gambling have been thwarted by vested interests, so gambling reform is now considered very politically risky.

We are encouraged to gamble with our friends, gamble while consuming alcohol to make it more fun, gamble in social venues, while eating, and on our mobile devices. We are encouraged to share our betting wins, near wins, and losses with friends and loved ones. We laugh, cry, yell, and cheer for our team/horse, talk about sporting events in terms of betting odds, and impress ourselves and others with our betting skills and knowledge of the form/ event. And of course, we share our expertise/ knowledge with our friends and loved ones. In Australia, gambling is a socially accepted behaviour, actively encouraged through more than $287 million dollars of advertising spending per year, and a source of more than seven billion dollars of revenue per year for governments. Gambling revenue for sporting bodies is also significant although exact figures are hard to obtain.

“We need a full ban on gambling advertising as recommended in the Murphy Report, just as we banned the advertising of tobacco. “The Government has gone soft on the online gambling and tech companies, at the expense of the wellbeing and safety of Australians. The Greens have slammed Labor’s capitulation to the gambling lobby by reportedly dropping plans for an online ad ban, saying it will leave families to the “gambling industry vultures”.

BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register™ is a safe and free Australian Government initiative to block yourself from all licensed Australian online and phone gambling providers. Access resources for safer gambling, including tools to identify gambling-related harm, manage habits, and seek support. Find information on upcoming VGCCC hearings, including gaming machine applications, disciplinary actions, and casino exclusion appeals.

Due to decreased access, gambling participation and problems declined significantly around the height of COVID-19 restrictions in Australia, increasing again when restrictions https://campbellsstoremorpeth.com/ began to ease (Biddle, 2022). Our own published research shows that while overall gambling participation rates decreased during COVID-19 (Hodgins & Stevens, 2021; Quinn et al., 2022), by early 2023 participation had nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels (Suomi et al., 2024). The information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. Our loan products and rates displayed are subject to the individual borrower’s credit assessment. To be approved you must meet the credit criteria and responsible lending requirements. Calculators and examples only provide an estimate and are used for illustrative purposes only, not an offer for credit.

Recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows that three in four Australians aged 18 and over had gambled in the past year as of 2022. Among those who gambled, almost half (46%) were classified as being at some risk of gambling harm. The Committee adopted an inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on problem gamblers on 15 September 2022, following a referral from the Minister for Social Services, the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP. The federal election represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to implement all 31 recommendations of the Murphy Report, including a ban on gambling advertising. Extraordinarily, half of the people surveyed who bet offshore, were registered with BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, while 30 per cent of people are betting with credit, which has been illegal in the onshore Australian market since mid-2024. “Organisations such as the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) share the sentiment that this lack of transparency undermines public confidence in sports outcomes and weakens integrity systems,” the report says.

Visit our support tools page to find out about other services and supports that are available. This includes counselling, help managing your finances and information about supporting others. Whether you are registered with BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register or still considering it, there are many other supports available if you want to take control of your gambling. The Victorian Government acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.