IIt's a quiet evening in Fairfield, Sydney's western suburb. In a small brick building, a dozen members of Gamblers Anonymous are helping themselves to coffee, tea and mini meat pies. The meeting is taking place in a suburb with the lowest average income in Sydney and the highest gambling losses. It's home to a fifth of New South Wales' 25 most profitable gambling clubs. Government Data.
One of these clubs, the Fairfield Veterans League (RSL), is just a two-minute walk away. The building is a stark contrast to the modest apartments and shabby train station nearby. Its interior walkways are lined with palms and ferns, and it has an ornate fountain and an opulent lobby. It may seem incongruous, but the building’s surroundings are a welcome addition. It's the blood supply. Inside the club, just off the street, there are hundreds of gaming machines. Fairfield RSL and Clubs Australia did not respond to requests for comment.
New South Wales has the second largest number of gaming machines after Nevada, home to Las Vegas. There are about 90,000 gaming machines in New South Wales, or one for every 88 people. Nevada, with a population of 3.1 million, has about 120,000.
But it's a national issue. Australia has less than 1% of the world's population, but 18% of the world's poker and slot machines. According to According to the Australia Institute, the world's largest poker machine manufacturer is Aristocrat, an Australian company. Most of the world's poker machines are installed in dedicated gaming venues such as casinos. But 76% of the machines in the world that aren't are in Australia. Maybe it's no wonder that Australians are also the world's biggest losers, losing $25 billion per capita to gambling per year. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
One reason for this huge amount is that most gambling in Australia doesn't take place on big nights in glitzy casinos, but rather in hidden pubs and local RSLs on every street corner. In most states, pubs are more famous for the lack of gambling machines (called pokies in Australians) than for the ones they have. The only exception is Western Australia, which only allows gambling machines in casinos. The state has the lowest per capita gambling loss in the country.
And online gambling can happen from anywhere: A report published in July by the Australian National University's Gambling Research Centre warned that online gambling is “growing exponentially” in Australia, with a third of survey respondents saying they had placed a bet online in the past four months.
Most of Australia's online gambling companies are licensed in the Northern Territory, which has low taxes and fees. The territory is home to just 1% of Australians and has a $32 billion economy. In 2023, The Guardian reported that the $50 billion online gambling industry is largely regulated by just six people in the state capital, Darwin.
“They have a sense of camaraderie.”
Tim Costello, lead advocate for the Gambling Reform Alliance, likens gambling in Australia to gun control in the United States. As with gun control, the majority of Australians I want stricter laws on gambling advertising.
“63 cents of every dollar won on poker machines comes from addiction,” Costello said. There are no hard figures on the number of suicides caused by gambling in Australia, but Hong Kong, which has a low gambling rate, offers a good example. Probably around 20%.he says.
A national debate about gambling has intensified recently, sparked by Australia's Labor government's proposal for a partial ban on gambling advertising, which falls well short of the recommendations of the Australian Gambling Commission. Landmark Congressional Report 2023 They are calling for a total ban. Some media companies have been lobbying the government to impose a weaker ban, citing concerns about advertising revenue.
Meanwhile, the government is facing opposition from lawmakers within its own party, with independents calling for a free vote on a total ban.
“As if two cigarette ads an hour is OK,” Costello said. Advocates encourage treating gambling as a health issue, like smoking. Australia banned smoking advertising in 1992. Today, Fewer than one in ten Australians Smoke every day. Three-quarters of people in the 2022 survey Gambling last year.
The group representing online gambling companies is called Responsible Wagering Australia. CEO Kai Cantwell told the Guardian that the group is “committed to reducing children and vulnerable people's exposure to gambling advertising, while supporting the sports and broadcasters who rely on this funding. It's important to strike a balance to ensure Australians do not turn to illegal offshore providers.” In 2023, the Guardian announced that it would no longer accept gambling advertising.
If Australia has a national religion, it's sport, Costello says. And while sport and gambling are inextricably linked, thanks to lucrative sponsorship deals with betting companies and high advertising ratings, Costello says there is nothing inherently Australian about gambling.
“We have the weakest regulations in the world. That's all.”
He says a ban on gambling advertising is necessary to protect children, reduce domestic violence and protect Australian culture. If you look at sports betting ads, “they have a 'mate mentality'. Every ad is a young man and they're saying, 'Let's gamble with our mates'.”
'Dramatic increase'
The proliferation of gambling advertising is a relatively recent phenomenon. A 2008 High Court ruling stated: Ruling in favor of gambling companiesThere has been a “dramatic increase” in gambling advertising. According to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.
“This is the first generation of parents having to explain to their kids watching the AFL or NRL what a multi is,” Costello says, referring to a bet that bundles together multiple outcomes. Offering more betting options.
“There has been a “significant increase” in the amount of gambling advertising exposed to young people over the past decade,” said Dr Hannah Pitt, a Vic Health researcher at Deakin University.
Her research shows that Australian children Identify different sports betting companies I'm 8. I'm 11 and can remember specific promotions from these companies.
“It's everywhere.”
As GA members share their stories, it becomes clear how many ways there are to beat a day, six years or even 20 years without gambling. You can gamble on your mobile phone, in a pub, club or sports betting shop. You can bet on sport, politics, reality TV, horse racing, greyhounds, carriages and poker machines. One man says he passes several gambling venues every day but is proud to be able to exercise again.
Some participants had experienced the breakup of marriages, been in prison, lost their homes, jobs, family and friends to gambling, or become addicted to drugs. One woman who hadn't gambled for six years spent a week watching her brother gambled away $40,000 of his retirement savings. One 21-year-old man had already attempted suicide twice.
When Mary* (not her real name) was in her 40s, her husband, then 50, was diagnosed with early-stage dementia and motor neurone disease. He soon moved into a care home. Mary began stopping off in the pub on her way home from visiting him. The pub had a poker machine, so she started playing – and soon she couldn't stop.
She left paid work to care for her children, and when her husband died, she sold one of their houses to make ends meet. Suddenly, she had a lot of cash on hand.
Mary began staying at gambling dens until the early hours of the morning, leaving her children to be fed and cared for – her oldest son, 18, and her youngest, 6. Eventually, community services removed her children from her custody.
She's not sure banning the ads would make a difference. There are ways to gamble “everywhere,” she said. “It's everywhere.”
Four of Mary's children have since been taken back into her care, but her eldest daughter, who looked after her siblings when Mary was unable to, has still not forgiven her.
“I'm a little worried that things have gotten too big for us to ever reconcile again,” she said, “but I hope that one day it will happen.”
