Australia should ban gambling ads and introduce loss limits on pokies and online betting to stop the industry causing more harm, says a new Grattan Institute report.
The report, A better bet: How Australia should prevent gambling harm, shows that Australia has the highest gambling losses in the world.
Our average annual losses per adult ($1,635) far exceed the average in similar countries such as the US ($809) and New Zealand ($584). Australians lose most of this on pokies and betting.
Pokies are more common in our suburbs than ATMs, post boxes, or public toilets, and they're especially prevalent in our most disadvantaged communities.
Meanwhile online betting has surged in recent years, turbo-charged by a barrage of gambling advertising directed particularly at young men.
'Australia has let the gambling industry run wild, and gamblers, their families, and the broader community are paying the price,' says Grattan Institute CEO Aruna Sathanapally.
'Gambling products are designed to be addictive, and the consequences can be catastrophic: job loss, bankruptcy, relationship breakdown, family violence, even suicide.
'It's time our politicians stood up to the powerful gambling lobby and reined the industry in.'
The report recommends a multi-pronged strategy to prevent harm, including:
- Banning all gambling advertising and inducements.
- Cutting the number of pokies in each state over time.
- Introducing a mandatory pre-commitment system for online gambling, with daily, monthly, and annual limits on losses.
- Introducing mandatory pre-commitment for pokies in every state and territory, again with daily, monthly, and annual limits on losses.
Loss limits would act as a 'seatbelt' on the most dangerous types of gambling: people would have to choose how much they are willing to lose before they start playing the pokies or gambling online.
'It would stop people suffering catastrophic losses - because no one should lose their house, or their life, on the pokies,' Dr Sathanapally says.
The gambling industry and its allies will push back against these reforms by stoking community fears about the loss of clubs, jobs, sport, and fun. But this report shows that their trumped-up claims don't withstand scrutiny.
'Federal and state governments should take on the vested interests and work together in the interests of all Australians to make gambling a safer, better bet,' Dr Sathanapally says.
