‘Gamble responsibly’ message is a cop-out. Regulators must step up

We love comparing ourselves to others. By many measures, Australians do well.

Our self-image is sports-loving, irreverent, healthy, prosperous and democratic. But like an insecure teenager, we struggle with our vulnerabilities and frailties.

Australians experience the biggest gambling losses per capita in the world.Credit:Louie Douvis

With a suicide rate of 10.4 per 100,000 people, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, we rank about 18 out of 36 among OECD countries. And in terms of gambling, we are among the worst, experiencing the biggest losses per capita.

The two can be linked: studies show gambling is the cause of an estimated 400 suicides annually.

Australians lose money on-line or in person, in glitzy casinos or suburban and regional pokies pubs and clubs, on phones or face to face, whether on horses or hounds, football or cricket, or just flashing pixels spinning on a screen.

Without doubt, the glorification and glamorisation of gambling creates a dead weight on the economy, a brake on prosperity and cuts a shocking and frequently tragic path through our towns and suburbs. Dealing with the familial and social wreckage, widespread crime and depression triggered by excessive gambling is a massive drain on our collective wellbeing. Every day in every town and city, the courts deal with the fallout from gambling addiction.

Yet state governments – which in any other sphere accept their obligation to protect the vulnerable from harm – are embedded with the gambling giants. Taxing gambling makes them joint venture partners. They share in the proceeds and even budget for it.

Retired politicians frequently go on to work for the gaming giants, receiving lucrative personal contracts funded from the mega-profits of businesses that have become too large to fail.

Multiple parliamentary committees, royal commissions and judicial inquiries have again and again exposed the legal and ethical failures of both our major casino operators. Yet this week, Star was found to be unfit to operate a casino, as was Crown before it, but they both still operate casinos!

And just in case a library of inquiries and reports are not enough, the federal parliament has just announced another, this time into the booming and ubiquitous live sports betting and in-game simulated gambling.

The response is predictable. There is a script in the top drawer of their crisis management consultants, for when the excrement hits the cooling system. The CEO expresses disappointment that they were misled by their underlings, the company directors tut-tut loudly, the lawyers are briefed, the lobbyists go to work strolling the corridors of parliament while the roulette wheels keep spinning.

Last week, about 300 addiction specialists and survivors gathered in Canberra. United under the banner “Rethink Addiction”, they urged a reversal of failed policies for gambling, alcohol and drugs. I felt privileged to be with them, and wondered how we have let the problems of addiction get so out of hand.

The mantra to “gamble responsibly” is a cop-out. It is corporate spin designed to put the entire onus on the customer. It is letting a predatory industry off the hook, absolving them, as if they are just a benign presence, a mere witness at the scene of a disaster.

It is a weasel-words slogan, a waiver of government and industry responsibility, argues Kate Seselja, who told a hushed hall how she nearly took her own life after 16 years of catastrophic pokies addiction. She has finally severed the ties and now campaigns to change thinking about a business model designed to entice people to lose money.

It is well established that poker machines are engineered to be addictive. The electronic graffiti augmented with the catchy music rewards those parts of the brain that crave stimulation. Along with subsidised food and drinks, and the veneer of fake hospitality, they lure particularly the lonely and the vulnerable.

Phone-betting companies tempt customers with endless offers of free or subsidised gambling. Online gaming providers offer “free bets” to keep people hooked, chasing their losses, with cash baits to keep them playing even after they have no more money.

Another speaker, suspended financial adviser Gavin Fineff, turned over $80 million and lost $8 million of it – his own and other people’s money – in just a few years. He spoke even as he is preparing to go to jail. While he was losing millions, he was rewarded as a VIP customer by multiple gaming operators, none of whom made inquiries about the source of his funds.

Imagine if the tobacco industry was allowed to wash its hands of accountability and used the slogan “smoke responsibly”. Would we accept road deaths and trauma if we replaced airbags, seat belts and speed limits with “drive responsibly”?

Replace “problem gambler” with “problem gambling company” and call it what it is: “gambling harm”. As we do with cigarettes, pokies venues and casinos ought to be regulated more vigorously, taxed enough to cover the cost of the harm they create and come with a warning; “Gambling can be bad for you.”

Jon Faine is a regular columnist.

Phone the Gambler’s Help service on 1800 858 858 for free, confidential support.

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