Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians are the biggest gambling losers in the world. There are other countries that have similarly large gambling cultures and gambling industries, but Australians lose more, on average, than those in the other countries. On a per capita basis, Australians are losing $1,300 per year, a staggering $25 billion a year collectively. And of course we know that for all of those who don't gamble there are many others who are losing thousands and thousands—tens of thousands—in betting.

We know that gambling can cause significant harm to individuals, families and the community as a whole. The number of people who are experiencing gambling harm has doubled in the past nine years. Gambling takes many forms in our community: lotteries, onsite sports betting, casinos, poker machines and of course, in more recent years, online gambling. Online gambling, available on your smartphone or computer 24/7, from your school, work or home, is now causing significantly escalating issues. The rate of harm amongst online gamblers is three times that amongst those who use physical gambling products that involve going out to the venue.

It's for this reason that the Minister for Social Services referred the issue of online gambling harm to the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee, chaired by the member for Dunkley and of which I am a member. The inquiry took up a number of months at the beginning of this year. Throughout the inquiry the committee heard from a variety of stakeholders, including those who identified themselves as problem gamblers, families of problem gamblers, gambling help support services, the gambling industry, the advertising industry, the sports industry, the television industry, and academics with knowledge of the Australian gambling sector and regulations as well as internationally.

Some of the stories we heard were heartbreaking. Many were in the public hearings and so are on record—people who lost tens of thousands of dollars overnight and people who lost their house, their redundancy payouts, their marriages, their jobs, their families and more. There are people who've had to change their entire life to avoid gambling triggers, avoiding sports stadiums, television, radio and social media. We heard from one man, probably around 24 years of age, who told us that he loves sport, but he's a gambling addict, and he's had to change his entire life. He can't watch sport on TV or listen on the radio, because the adverts trigger his addiction. He can't watch sport in a stadium or even at the local club, because of the gambling companies sponsoring teams and adverts at the grounds. He can't play sport at the local clubs and grounds because they have gambling company sponsorship. He can't go on social media because he is targeted by gambling adverts. He can't listen to the radio in his car because of the adverts. He can't watch TV news on commercial channels. He can't go to the pub because of the sporting broadcast with gambling adverts. It's changed his entire life. It's stopped him being able to play or watch sport, which he loves, and it's changed the way he can socialise and interact with his friends. There's a whole range of places he can't go, and he certainly can't contact them via social media.

We need to be clear that gambling addiction is not a personal failing. It's an addiction with the same hormonal feedback systems that drive other compulsive behaviour and addictions, except that this addiction is cultivated by an industry that benefits from it—the bells and flashing lights, the psychological principle of intermittent reinforcement, the inducements to increase your bet, to have another go, to come back after an exclusion. There's 'Bet With Mates', which makes your entire social life through their betting app. This is not an accident. This is a design. It's designed to attract customers and to keep them there gambling.

As the mother of one gambling addict said to us: 'The entire gambling industry is based on making you into a loser. They only win, they only make money when you lose. And no-one is a better customer for them than an addict.' This mother lost her son to gambling. He took his own life. He felt he couldn't control the debts that were spiralling, that he couldn't control his addictions.

The Albanese government takes this very seriously. The report that was handed down earlier this year has a number of recommendations in it, but I'd like to highlight three of the actions that have been taken already. Firstly, the Albanese government is committed to ensuring online gambling takes place within a robust legislative framework with strong consumer protections, including through the implementation of a national self-exclusion register, BetStop. What we heard from academics and from the self-help groups was that the reason that Australians lose so much is not because we gamble in any different way. It's because our regulations are weaker than anywhere else in the world. We heard from gamblers about the difficulty they've had in trying to self-exclude from hundreds of online gambling sites, only to find a new one pop up in their email the next day. Were they selling lists? We were unable to find out, but that's certainly what the addicts themselves thought was happening. BetStop will be the one-stop shop for self-exclusion. It requires licensed phone and internet wagering providers to check whether the consumer has self-excluded before providing their services. Operators are required to promote BetStop on websites, apps and other promotions, and consumers can range their exclusion from three months up to a lifetime. Wagering companies will be banned from sending promotional marketing material to BetStop participants.

Secondly, while advertising was a part of the terms of reference of the committee inquiry, we are already acting on previous recommendations. As of 30 March, the previously legally-required gambling advertising message of 'Gamble responsibly' has been replaced with alternating messages: 'Chances are you're about to lose;' 'You win some. You lose more;' and, 'Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?' While that goes some way to the recommendations of the committee, the committee itself recommended that there be a reduction in gambling advertising over a period of time such that it will be eliminated entirely. This is something that, obviously, the industry is not happy about. Certainly the sports industry and the media industry are not happy about it. But the arguments that were being used were the same arguments that were being used about smoking advertising, and that has managed to be successful, and they didn't go broke.

Thirdly, Deputy Speaker, you may be alarmed to know that, amongst the harms of online gambling, the really significant losses the committee heard about were of the 15 to 20 per cent of Australian gamblers who are gambling not only with money they can't afford to lose, but actually with money they don't have in the first place—15 to 20 per cent of online gamblers are gambling with credit cards. Importantly, the Albanese Labor government is legislating to ban the use of credit cards for online gambling. Credit card gambling is already banned in physical settings like casinos and poker machines, and the legislation to ban credit card betting for online gambling is an important part of limiting the damage.

The Albanese government is committed to ensuring online gambling takes place within that robust legislative framework, and there's a lot we can learn from overseas. There are places in Europe where there is live monitoring of betting. They have a regulator who actually has live monitoring, and they can tell if somebody is spiralling out of control—say, if somebody who has never bet before or has only bet small amounts is suddenly depositing tens of thousands of dollars in an overnight session—and they can actively intervene at the time. This is obviously something that would take considerable effort and considerable resourcing and is something that perhaps we should be looking at.

A lot of the complaints that we heard through the gambling committee were about the advertising. I have to say I don't watch a lot of commercial TV. But, on those occasions when I'm watching commercial TV, particularly around the news, I am absolutely shocked at the amount of advertising that we see. Although it is limited through the Broadcasting Services Act 1992—there are hourly limits for advertising for free-to-air television—it really doesn't feel that way when you're watching it. The commercial television code of practice prohibits gambling advertising during general, preschool or other children-aimed programming from 5 am to 8.30 pm. The code is periodically reviewed. But, I have to say, when you're trying to watch the news and you're seeing Bet With Mates and the celebrities in advertisements encouraging people to go back on, you can really understand why parents are concerned about their children watching the news. Gambling addicts can't even watch the news and see what's going on in the world.

This is a public health issue. It affects Australia so much more than other countries. It is because our regulation has historically been weak, and we need to address all of that. I would encourage anyone listening to have a look at the report. There are some very comprehensive recommendations in there, as well as the setting out of the evidence that we've heard. Looking at this as a public health issue, where we need to look at the health of the community and the damage that is done to the community by this industry, is a really important first step forward. I'd encourage people to read the report.

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