'Social harm on an industrial scale': New gambling loss data intensifies pressure for reform

Key Points

Figures collated by the Queensland Treasury show total gambling losses were $32 billion in 2022- 2023.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive officer Martin Thomas described the figures as “horrifying”.
Australia’s gambling losses are the biggest in the world, according to think tank the Grattan Institute.

Gambling reform advocates have renewed their push for a blanket ban on ads as new data shows losses on the rise.

The average loss for each Australian adult hit $1,555 a year in 2022/23, up from $1,395 in 2021-2022.

Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive officer Martin Thomas said these losses, based on figures collated by Queensland Treasury, would be reflected in “social harm on an industrial scale”.

“These latest horrifying loss figures underscore the importance of the federal government adopting all 31 recommendations of the Murphy Report including a full ban on gambling advertising on broadcast media and online,” Thomas said on Sunday.

The landmark report into called for a complete ad ban, a levy on gambling companies and the creation of a national regulator, among dozens of other recommended reforms.

While a final policy hasn’t been announced, federal ministers have been warning of unintended consequences from a blanket ban, including the impact on media company revenue.

The Albanese government has proposed a partial ad ban, which would prohibit advertising online, during children’s programs and live sports broadcasts and with an hour either side of them — as well as and limits in general programming.

The figures released last week showed total gambling losses — the net amount lost when accounting for winnings — were $32 billion in 2022/23.

This was up from $28 billion in 2021/22.

More than half a million Australians have , a parliamentary inquiry into the impacts of online gambling heard in April.

A report released by the Australian Institute of Family Studies in March

It found three-quarters of Australians had gambled in the last 12 months, while two in five did so weekly. Of those who gambled, 46 per cent were considered at some risk of betting harm.

Australia leads the world in gambling losses

Australia’s gambling losses are the biggest in the world, according to think tank the Grattan Institute.

One in three Australians gambled regularly and the nation was home to more pokies than ATMs or post boxes,

The report also found that one in three Australians gambled regularly and that online betting had “surged” particularly among young men, with industry advertising described as a “major culprit” in the normalisation of gambling.

It recommended a ban on all ads and a raft of other measures to reduce harm, including reducing the number of poker machines in each state.

Grattan Institute chief executive Aruna Sathanapally that Australia has too many poker machines.

“The types of machines you have in Australia, in other countries, they’re usually limited to casinos but we have them throughout our suburbs.

“Our analysis showed we’ve got more pokies across Australia than ATMs, post offices, public toilets and those losses are really concentrated in our most disadvantaged suburbs.”

NSW pokies pulling in $262,000 per machine each year

Individuals in NSW lost $2.1 billion to poker machines in the third financial quarter of 2023,

That’s $250 for every adult and child in the state.

Hotels operating with the legal maximum of 30 poker machines earned, on average, $65,589 per machine in the 90 days from the first of July until the end of September in 2023.

Per year, that’s over $262,000 in profit for each poker machine.

Greens spokesperson for communications Sarah Hanson-Young said the government was dragging the chain on reforms.

“Labor have buckled to the bookies and the public expect better,” she said on Sunday.

Earlier in the month, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said discussions were ongoing with states and territories to share “dual responsibility” on how best to minimise gambling harm.

“Our focus is how do you reduce online harms, ensure that children are protected and, of course, that we do reduce problem gambling in this country. So, everything has to be guided by that.”