Wesley Mission has welcomed the Federal Government's announcement of further energy rebates for Australian households in tonight's Budget but says the government must also act to reduce gambling losses, which would put even more money back into people's pockets.
Wesley Mission CEO, Rev Stu Cameron, says "Providing relief on energy bills is a good thing to do, but we need to ask: why give $150 to help families when we could be saving them thousands by tackling gambling losses? Every year, Australians lose more than $31 billion to gambling - money that could be going toward essentials like rent, food, and energy bills."
A recent report from Equity Economics commissioned by Wesley Mission and the Alliance for Gambling Reform highlighted the devastating impact of gambling, with losses disproportionately felt by people already struggling with the cost of living.
The report revealed:
- Australian households spent $3,045 on gambling in 2022-23 more than they spent on essential utilities like electricity, gas, and other fuels ($2,821)
- Gambling expenditure increased by 18.2%, more than expenditure growth on education (17.5%), housing (14.2%) and three times faster than growth in electricity, gas and other fuel expenditures.
- There has been a 25% spike in gambling losses on pre-pandemic losses.
- Gambling losses have risen 6.8% while real wages have declined 5.7%.
- Inflation across all goods and services rose 16% while gambling losses spiked up to 25%.
- Australia's annual gambling losses ($31.5bn) now eclipse what governments' spend on aged care ($28.3bn) and rivals that spent on the National Disability Insurance Scheme ($35.2bn)
"Every day, we see the impact of gambling losses on families, yet for too long it has remained a hidden, unspoken black hole in household budgets that governments have failed to address," he said.
"There is overwhelming public support for banning gambling advertising. If we truly want to ease cost-of-living pressures, let's reduce the financial drain of gambling losses in our communities. A good place to start would be enacting the Murphy Inquiry's recommendation to ban all gambling advertising." Rev Cameron said.
