ENDING THE ADDICTION

And in more detail...

Australians have a problem with gambling. With more than 80 percent of Australians engaging in some form of it, it's a fact that we gamble more than any other nation. We also have more problem gamblers than any other nation, with up to 170,000 Australian adults experiencing some form of gambling addiction, according to the Productivity Commission (June 2021). Federal governments have been reluctant to tackle the problem, as it raises more than $6 billion annually from gambling. Gambling also accounts for significant slices of state revenue — up to 11 percent of a state's total tax take. The damage this love affair with gambling does to people's lives is significant. It can ruin relationships, affect employment, and lead to homelessness in severe cases as well as significant mental health problems.

Gambling is often pursued by people who can least afford to lose money. Research conducted by the Australian Institute of Families (November 2017) found that people who were "unemployed, single, renting and had low incomes, were overrepresented among those who experienced problems with gambling.

“Gamblers in low-income families spent an average of 10 percent of their household income on gambling, compared to high-income households which spent 1 percent of the household budget.

“Higher risk gamblers lived in households where members experienced a much higher proportion of financial problems, including an inability to pay electricity, gas or telephone bills on time and needing to ask friends or family for financial assistance.”

Gambling is bad news for too many Australians. Governments, both federal and state, must get serious about meaningfully addressing the problem.

Gambling can and does ruin relationships, affect employment, and lead to homelessness in severe cases as well as significant mental health problems

Treating gambling like smoking

Enormous amounts of money are spent presenting gambling in its various forms as a glamorous, exciting, and fun pastime that makes you windfall money, increases your popularity, and heightens your enjoyment of life. It's all a lie, of course, but the lie is everywhere you look. In many ways, gambling today is like cigarettes were before advertising for the latter was banned. And, indeed, what parent today doesn't lament the number and prevalence of advertising normalising and promoting gambling while watching cricket or football games on television with their kids?

The Good Party will see gambling advertising banned in all its forms. The Good Party will also recommend that all machines carry warnings ranging from the reality of the odds of winning the jackpot to the symptoms and effects of problem gambling.

Poker machine curfews

It's said that nothing good happens after midnight. While they may or may not be true, someone sitting at a poker machine after midnight definitely has a problem gambling. We would like to see a nationwide 12pm-to-10am curfew imposed on playing poker machines in clubs, pubs, and casinos.

Cashless gaming, problem gambling, and money laundering

The Good Party also supports cashless gaming. While it's no cure for problem gamblers, anything that breaks a problem gambler's focus on the poker machine being played will be helpful.

Cashless gaming will have a real impact on identifying the crime proceeds. The NSW Crime Commission has found that poker machines are a primary means of money laundering. This is the main reason for government support of cashless gaming, as the cashless system provides a record of expenditure and can be referenced if required.

Ending donations to political parties

Due to the enormous sums donated, registered clubs wield significant outsized influence with political parties. While gambling enterprises and companies that make poker machines are banned from making political donations, registered clubs, which could make up to 90 percent of their income from poker machines, are not. Registered clubs are provided with a loophole because they are not-for-profit organisations. However, the money donated to political parties by these registered clubs is now proven to be tainted by criminal proceeds and the desperation of people suffering from gambling addiction.

Given what we now know about the damage done to society by gambling, this poisoned influence, which includes payments to professional lobbyists by registered clubs, has to stop.

Any political party that objects to the end of political donations by registered clubs is showing its true colours.