TRANSCRIPT
“And they're away folks, starting with spare cash. Spare cash, grocery money and mortgage payment flying past. Then borrowing dough from disappointed mates, and there goes all your savings. Your loved ones making a move now, and that's how it finishes. Your loved ones, all your savings, and the bail is coming from nowhere.”
That was an anti-gambling advert put out by Gamble Aware.
It aired nationally for Gambling Addiction Awareness Week between the 16th and 22nd of October.
The federal government has been responsive to calls to reduce gambling addiction.
It's most recent measure is BetStop, a national self-exclusion gambling register that was introduced in August and is meant to help people like Marilyn who has lost all her money to gambling.
“In excess of 30,000 - absolutely shocking, what I could have done with that money, but it's gone, and I'll never get it back. So all I have to do is make sure what I've got left. I make it work for me. I had to go. Nothing else mattered. I didn't spend any money on anything else. Not my garden, not my clothes, not my house, nothing. Breaks up families, friendships, friendships that I've had for 30-40 years and the depression and the mood swings. The mood swings that it causes is just uncontrollable. I rang a girlfriend asked her if she could put $50 in my bank so that I had milk and bread. That was the first time that I had empty fridge and an empty purse or an empty bank balance. So I said to myself, I need help. I can't go on like this.”
In July, Communications Minister Michelle Roland introduced BetStop, a measure to help those in a similar predicament as Marilyn.
“What BetStop means is that with a single touch an individual will be able to self exclude themselves from all forms of online wagering. That's 150 licenced wagering providers in Australia, they will not be able to open an account or place a bet and it will be prohibited to market to them directly, including by email or by text.”
Almost 10,000 Australians have signed up to BetStop since the 21st of August, preventing them from betting online for periods as short as three months, or for life.
Most who registered were under the age of 40, with the majority opting for a lifetime ban.
As for wagering service providers, they now have to promote the register on their websites, apps, and through marketing to customers.
The government also introduced mandatory pre-verification, meaning companies must verify a customer's identity when they register for a new account and before they can place a bet in case they have registered on BetStop.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth explains.
“Our steps that we're taking around pre verification is ensuring that if someone opens in an online account for wagering, that they must be identified and that they identify their identity is verified before they can place a bet. This is incredibly important to ensure that BetStop is effective, but it's also important to ensure that they're a real person online and it's important to ensure that they're not under the age of 18. So this is a very important measure. It was two weeks it was brought down to 72 hours.”
Carol Bennett is CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform.
She says the Albanese government has introduced significant gambling reforms.
“The Federal Government has announced some significant reforms in the form of a ban on gambling online with credit cards and the legislation we expect might be introduced to Parliament this week. We've seen improved messaging taglines for gambling ads, we've seen BetStop, the national self exclusion register finally launched in August. So there are some developments there.”
Ms Bennett reveals some concerning gambling statistics; Australians are losing billions of dollars.
“We've seen poker machine losses last week we released some information about what's been happening pre and post-COVID. And we saw a $14.5 billion increase in losses in five states. So that's a 13.7 per cent increase on pre-COVID figures from 2018-19 significant losses, particularly in New South Wales,Queensland and South Australia.”
Gambling losses for that period in New South Wales were eight billion dollars.
Tim Costello is Chief Advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform.
He says gambling addiction is a public health issue, and praises the efforts the government has taken.
But he wants to see more done, including a total ban on gambling ads, stating they groom children.
“Dads and Mums have had a collective psychic vomit about their kids literally being groomed by all the ads coming out of foreign sports betting companies all registered in the Northern Territory, the back door. A tsunami event launched on the rest of Australia. It is a barbecue stopper. If Albo or Dutton just says right we're implementing the bipartisan report but the stopper at the moment I still think is the vise-like grip that the gambling industry has held politicians on both sides in thrall in this country for far too long, which is why we have this number one public health issue.”
In June, Australia's bipartisan "Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform" released a comprehensive report after a two-year inquiry involving eight Australian Parliament members, evenly split between major parties.
The report introduced several recommendations to combat gambling-related issues in the country, including a ban on gambling advertising during live sports events.
A report commissioned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority found last week that there were more than a million gambling ads aired to Australian television and radio in a year.
The Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform report is also calling for the implementation of a mandatory pre-commitment system for online gambling, and an increase in funding for gambling harm prevention and treatment services.
It also called for the creation of BetStop for gamblers, which has now been implemented.
Peta Murphy is the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee Chair.
She tells the story of Jesse.
“Jesse is from my community in Frankston , he's an excellent young man. 27 years old. He is an occupational therapist, but struggled for almost a decade with terrible losses from online gambling that he didn't feel he could tell anyone about. Because he was ashamed. And he lied to his family and his friends, and he lost more money than he could afford. And he lost relationships because he couldn't stop gambling.”
Ms Murphy, through the example of Jesse, highlights why gambling reforms need to be implemented.
“Every time he tried to stop gambling, he was contacted by a gambling company, that offered him inducements to come back. They called him and said here's some tickets to a sporting event. Come with us have free food, have free alcohol and gamble more.”
Those who wish to return to gambling, can apply to cancel their self-exclusion after the first 3 months.
To cancel, they must complete a statutory declaration to confirm they have seen a counsellor or a general practitioner to discuss their decision.
