Gambling Donations Tied to Horse Betting, 2013-2023

Australian Greens

Donations from gambling companies linked to horse betting to the Labor and Liberal parties have surged dramatically over the past decade, skyrocketing from $66,650 in 2013-2014 to a staggering $488,000 in 2022-2023-an increase of more than 600%.

Method

A search of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Transparency Register was conducted by the Parliamentary Library, with results provided to Senator Faruqi's office.

The data presented in Table 1 is derived from incoming payments made by racing organisations and sports linked to horse racing and horse racing betting companies, as well as entities involved in both sports and horse racing betting, gaming (including pokies), and lotteries. Contributions from casinos (which derive some revenue from sports and race betting) and lottery-exclusive companies have been excluded from this analysis.

The search included the following companies linked to horse betting (refer to Appendix 1 for full list):

  • Australian Racing Board
  • Sportsbet
  • Tabcorp
  • Responsible Wagering Australia (formerly known as Australian Wagering Council)
  • Victoria Racing Club

Table 1: Donations from horse racing linked to gambling

Year by donorLaborLiberalNationalsTotal
2013-1436,65030,000066,650
Australian Wagering Council30,150 30,150
Sportsbet2,500 2,500
Tabcorp Holdings 30,000 30,000
Tatts Group4,000 4,000
2014-1556,45025,000081,450
Australian Wagering Council20,450 20,450
Tabcorp Holdings25,00025,000 50,000
Tatts Group11,000 11,000
2015-16117,26845,0000162,268
Sportsbet35,00015,000 50,000
Tabcorp Holdings52,50030,000 82,500
Tatts Group29,768 29,768
2016-17200,25090,00022,000312,250
Australian Wagering Council27,500 27,500
Responsible Wagering Australia55,00060,000 115,000
Sportsbet33,000 33,000
Tabcorp Holdings82,75030,00022,000134,750
Tatts Group2,000 2,000
2017-18169,20030,00023,300222,500
Melbourne Racing Club14,000 14,000
Sportsbet49,500 49,500
Tabcorp Holdings90,70030,00023,300144,000
Tatts Group15,000 15,000
2018-19122,500142,50022,000287,000
BetEasy 27,500 27,500
Responsible Wagering Australia35,50085,000 120,500
Sportsbet49,500 49,500
Tabcorp Holdings37,50030,00022,00089,500
2019-2061,000140,00022,000223,000
BetEasy 27,500 27,500
Responsible Wagering Australia 55,000 55,000
Sportsbet 27,500 27,500
Tabcorp Holdings61,00030,00022,000113,000
2020-21136,420142,50022,000300,920
Responsible Wagering Australia19,320 19,320
Sportsbet55,000112,500 167,500
Tabcorp Holdings62,10030,00022,000114,100
2021-22293,695192,50075,000561,195
Responsible Wagering Australia82,00077,50020,000179,500
Sportsbet122,55085,00033,000240,550
Tabcorp Holdings89,14530,00022,000141,145
2022-23296,000115,00077,000488,000
Responsible Wagering Australia115,00025,00022,000162,000
Sportsbet110,00060,00033,000203,000
Tabcorp Holdings66,00030,00022,000118,000
Thoroughbred Breeders Australia5,000 5,000
Grand Total1,489,433952,500263,3002,705,233

Graph 1: Gambling donations by political parties (2013/14 - 2022/23)

Chart showing Gambling donations by political parties (2013/14 -2022/23)

Key Findings

The donation figures, provided by the Parliamentary Library, show that donations have skyrocketed over the last decade from 2013-2023.

Donations from gambling companies involved in horse racing betting to the Labor and Liberal parties have surged dramatically over the past decade, skyrocketing from $66,650 in 2013-2014 to a staggering $488,000 in 2023-2024-a 7 fold increase (more than 600%).

Tabcorp Holdings have made the most significant donations to the major political parties in a ten year period from 2013-2023, totalling over $1 million.

Industry peak bodies like Responsible Wagering Australia (formally known as Australian Wagering Council) have also made significant contributions to both the major parties in that 10 year period totalling $729,420, including a massive $179,500 in 2021-2022.

The total donations over this 2013-2023 period amounted to $2.7 million with Labor being by far the largest recipient of gambling donations linked to horse betting at $1.5 million, the Liberal party at $952,500.

Donations to Labor more than doubled (went up 115%) from $136,420 in 2020-2021 to $293,695 in 2021-2022 - ahead of the 2022 federal election, and have remained consistently high during Labor's first term in government.

Attitudes towards horse racing

Nationally-representative independent polling conducted by Lonergan Research for the Greens found from 2021 - 2024 half to two-thirds of respondents agreed that racing animals like horses and greyhounds for gambling and entertainment is cruel:

  • 2021: 55%
  • 2022: 50%
  • 2023: 64%
  • 2024: 60%

In 2024, when asked a specific question about banning commercial horse racing almost half (49%) of respondents agreed that commercial horse racing should be banned altogether (with more than a quarter strongly agreeing - 26%).

Attitudes towards the Melbourne Cup

In 2023, publicly available data shows there was a combined total of 62% of those polled had 'low' or 'no' interest in the Melbourne Cup. This was up 10% from 2022. Additionally, those with a 'high interest' in the Melbourne Cup dropped from 15% in 2022 to 11% in 2023.

In the same poll, 41% of respondents said they were not interested in the Melbourne Cup and would not place a bet. This was up from 34% from 2022.

Research conducted by the Parliamentary Library saw a 46% decline in the commercial television audience for the Melbourne Cup from 2013 with 2,168,000 people viewing the race compared to 1,168,000 in 2023. These figures do not include out-of-home viewing.

As stated by Senator Mehreen Faruqi:

"If you want to know why Labor has done nothing to address the scourge of gambling or the cruelty of horse racing here you have it in hard numbers. They're getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in blood money donations from horse betting companies.

"Labor and the Liberals work for their donors and lobby groups. They don't care about the pain that gambling causes to so many in this country. They don't care that a horse gets killed every two days on race tracks in this anachronistic, grotesque festival of cruelty. All they care about is lining their pockets with donations from the gambling industry.

"While more and more people switch off from this gambling-fuelled animal cruelty, the immoral industry makes sure they bankroll the major political parties to buy their silence.

"It's time to shut down horse racing once and for all, ban gambling ads and ban dirty donations from gambling companies."


Appendix 1

The full list of companies linked to horse racing who made political donations.

  • Primarily racing companies and organisations
    • Albion Park Harness Racing Club
    • Australian Racing Board
    • Canberra Racing Club
    • Centre Racing
    • Melbourne Racing Club
    • NSW Thoroughbred Racing Board
    • Thoroughbred Breeders Australia
    • Victoria Racing Club
  • Primarily sports and horse racing betting companies and organisations
    • Responsible Wagering Australia (formerly known as Australian Wagering Council)
    • BetEasy
    • Sportsbet
  • Combination of sports and horse racing betting, gambling (including pokies) and lottery
    • Tabcorp
    • Tattersalls
    • Tatts Group
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