NEWSLETTERS

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.

The Olympics are here again and as a nation we celebrate the efforts of our athletes as well as those from across the globe.

Unfortunately the Olympics are also a reminder that whenever we watch sport, we are forced to suffer virtually endless gambling adverts.

While there are some modest restrictions of gambling advertising during live play, there are still enough loopholes to allow a tsunami of ads across our screens. Indeed, more than one million gambling ads have been played on Australian free-to-air television and radio in just a one year period.

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.

Ed's lowest point came when he found himself stealing from clients of the business he ran. He was sinking deeper into the cycle of gambling harm in a desperate attempt to recover lost money. This harm amounted to a total loss of nearly $1.8 million and ended in his imprisonment.

We continue to witness changes across Australia that seek to limit gambling harm in our community.

These changes, such as the Federal Government move this month to ban the use of credit cards for gambling, are a tribute to you raising your voice against gambling harm and also your support of the Alliance for Gamlbing Reform.

Yet the actions by governments across the nation are still far short of where it must be. They also fail to reflect the white-hot anger that people across our communities have towards the bombardment of gambling adverts across our screens.

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 continue to fight for significant gambling reform, including a full ban on all gambling advertising and inducements, we have decided to take a very different approach to our monthly newsletter this time around.

Instead of giving you a summary of all that has happened, I’m encouraging you to listen to Kate’s interview. It is a powerful and sobering reminder of all we are fighting for.