Australia has the highest gambling losses in the world, according to a new Grattan Institute report that calls on federal and state governments to stand up to “vested Interests” and implement a complete ban on gambling ads and limits on how much people can bet when at the pokies and via online betting platforms.

The report, A Better Bet: How Australia Should Prevent Gambling Harm, says Australia has the highest gambling losses in the world because governments have taken “a lax approach to regulating gambling” and “let the gambling industry run wild”.

It notes past reform pushes have failed “because of well-funded, coordinated attacks by vested interests” and that has led to big losses.

Australians lost $24 billion gambling in 2020-21, the report notes.

Our average annual losses per adult ($1,635), it suggests, far exceed the average in similar countries such as the US ($809) and New Zealand ($584).

The Albanese government is under pressure to reduce the social harm caused by online betting, after a Senate inquiry released last year found that the torrent of advertising aimed at children, especially during sports events, was grooming young people to gamble.

The inquiry suggested a blanket ban on gambling advertising within three years, but media companies have been fighting the proposed ban, and there have been concerns the government might introduce a watered-down version of the proposed ban in response.

About 8 per cent of Australian adults placed a bet at least once a month in 2022 and overall losses on online betting grew from $3.6 billion in 2008-09 to $5.8 billion in 2020-21.

Grattan’s report says it is time governments stand up to online betting and gambling operators “rebutting their self-interested claims”.

Grattan’s deputy program director Kate Griffiths, who was also one of the report’s authors, says the report focuses mainly on pokies and online betting, which have been found to cause the highest gambling losses in total.

“It’s available at any time, at our fingertips in terms of betting online. It is causing harm. It causes harm not just to the gambler themselves, but to families, communities and to the broader Australian society, in fact, because we all pay those costs.”

Why Grattan opposes a ‘partial ban’ on online gambling ads

More than 1 million gambling ads aired on free-to-air TV and metropolitan radio in 2022-23.

The report calls on the government to introduce the Senate inquiry recommendations for a complete ban on gambling advertising within three years and a ban on inducements “without delay”.

Inducements are a form of direct marketing that betting companies also use to entice gamblers into spending more.

There have been leaks to media suggesting that Labor was considering a cap of two gambling ads per hour on each channel until 10pm and banning ads an hour before and after live sport.

The free-to-air TV industry has lobbied against a full ban on gambling advertising, warning it could slash up to $240 million in annual advertising revenue.

But Grattan’s report says the government could introduce the ban via a phased approach to give sporting bodies and broadcasters time to find alternative revenue sources.

She says while other advertisers might not be willing to pay quite as much as the gambling companies, the revenue loss to free-to-air advertisers would only be about 1 per cent of their revenue if other advertisers step in to take those spots.

“We don’t have to be afraid that those ad slots are going to fade to black. They’re valuable ad slots, and there are plenty of other advertisers who would be keen to have them.”

Grattan’s report warns against a partial ban, saying it would still allow widespread exposure to gambling advertising, including for children.

“In 2018, there were some restrictions around advertising and gambling advertising, in total, went up after those restrictions. So partial ban doesn’t guarantee reducing gambling advertising by any means.”

Call to introduce maximum loss limits for pokies and online betting

The report recommends governments aim to reduce pokies numbers in each state over time and suggests governments introduce limits on how much a person can gamble at the pokies and via online betting.

About 1.2 million Australians use pokies, with venues concentrated in our most disadvantaged communities.

The report points out that Australia had one electronic gaming machine for every 131 people in 2019 — more than almost any other country. The only countries with more were Japan and casino tourism destinations such as Macao.

And it says most of Australia’s gaming machines are high-intensity poker machines, which have high stakes and a fast rate of play.

The expected loss on the highest-intensity machines, used at their maximum rate, it says, is about $1,200 an hour for pokies in NSW.

It says about 93 per cent of Australia’s 185,000 pokies are outside casinos and that suburban pokies are in some areas more common than ATMs, post boxes, or public toilets.

Several other countries including Germany, Norway, Sweden and Belgium have introduced various restrictions on how much people can gamble in one go.

Grattan’s report recommends the federal government establish a national pre-commitment system for online gambling and state governments roll out statewide pre-commitment schemes for pokies.

Under this scheme, a gambler would choose their limits in advance — before they lose track of time and start chasing losses — and the system would then enforce these limits.

Tasmania has already committed to bringing in mandatory pre-commitment cards for all poker machines by 2025.

Under that state’s plan, all poker machine players must preload money onto cards and set loss limits of up to $100 a day, $500 a month, and $5,000 a year, unless they can prove they can afford more.

Grattan’s report suggests a similar model. It says people should be able to lower their limits at any time, and there should a time delay of at least 24 hours for raising limits, up to the maximum.

It says the system could be run through the federal government’s BetStop system, the National Self-Exclusion Register that allows people to block themselves from gambling.

Under the BetStop system, all online and phone gambling providers licensed in Australia must verify customers’ identities, and check that they are not on the self-exclusion register, before they can place a bet.

“There’s more than a million Australians who are either directly themselves considered problem gamblers, or who live with one. We’re talking about a large group of people who are experiencing gambling harm, whether or not they’re the gambler themselves.”