NEWSLETTERS

If you are a sports fan this time of year is amazing.

We have just had the AFL Grand Final, now we await the NRL Grand Final and then Bathurst, and before too long the Ashes cricket.

Unfortunately, this time of the year is also ‘peak gambling’ season’. It is almost impossible to watch sport in Australia today without being bombarded by gambling ads.

I love my footy. Being born in Victoria I was bred on AFL but having lived in both Queensland and NSW, I have bought into the passion of rugby league and especially State of Origin.



Game 2 of State of Origin will be next week.



But tempering my enthusiasm for the game is the fact that State of Origin nights see a 40 per cent increase in domestic abuse and about a 70 per cent increase in non-domestic assaults.

The NSW Government’s decision to ban gambling advertising across the state’s public transport network is a small but crucial step in the right direction and represents validation from a senior political leader for gambling advertising reform in this country.   

As we approach footy finals, Australia is now experiencing peak gambling advertising exposure.

It’s so bad that a recent survey of AFL players managers reported that even the players were being negatively impacted. It found more than 76% of player managers cited gambling among footballers as a grave concern.

Elections come and go, but the fight for meaningful and lasting gambling reform continues. And with even small political changes, emerge big opportunities for reform.

This year marks 10 years since the creation of the Alliance for Gambling Reform.

Back then a group of concerned individuals and organisations acted because of concerns about the harm poker machines were doing in Victoria.

Today, the Alliance has a focus on federal, state and territory gambling policy covering online gambling, poker machines and the operations of casinos across Australia.

Our governments’ shortsighted addiction to gambling revenue



State and territory governments across our nation are addicted to the revenue they get from electronic poker machines.



But now there is new evidence that shows just how we are all being shortchanged by such a reliance on this revenue – which we know comes from the losses that people simply cannot afford.

Christine has powerful memories of what it was like growing up in a household where her mother had a serious gambling problem.

“As mum descended further into debt, electricity became a luxury and food could be pretty scarce unless she won some money and then we’d go grocery shopping. Things kept disappearing from our home, including the washing machine so then I’d be hand washing my one school uniform by hand every day,” Christine says.