Australia has experienced a surge in gambling-related losses, with pokies and betting shops leading the charge. After years of not actively addressing the issue, the Australian government is under pressure to fix the situation with haste.

The problem with this sudden desire to appear engaged is that the proposed solution could lead to a spike in unlicensed gambling, which only enhances the danger to the community.

 Gambling Ads and Limits Tabled in Australia

The Grattan Institute, a Melbourne-based public policy think tank, has raised concerns about the Australian government's “lax approach” to gambling regulations. The primary reason for this stance is that their research has shown that Australia is leading the world in gambling losses.

Based on their comparison of Aussie bettors with similar counterparts in Ireland, the USA and New Zealand, they found that Australians lost $1,635, the Irish $892, Americans $809, and Kiwis $584! According to the report, the gambling commission has "let the gambling industry run wild", which is evident in the growing losses and pervasiveness of casino and betting advertising in the country.

Speaking of gambling ads, Grattan's deputy program director Kate Griffiths said:

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"It is everywhere. It's on our screens, in terms of advertising, the pokies in our pubs and clubs. It's available at any time, at our fingertips, in terms of betting online.”

The institute has opposed suggestions that the government consider a partial ban or limitations on gambling ads. Grattan argues that leaving any constitutional wiggle room only invites unscrupulous operators to look for legal loopholes.

Therefore, the only option is a total ban on all forms of gambling in Australia, including gaming halls, poker machines, online casinos, and sports betting. In addition to ad limits, gambling loss limits of around $500 per month have been tabled for consideration.

Can Limits Create Problematic Thinking?

Not everyone in the industry agrees that setting limits, whether they be based on losses or deposits, is the way to protect Australia’s land-based and online gambling community from harm.

Speaking at the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry, Steven Lang, Regulatory Strategy and Safer Gambling Director at Entain Australia, argued that limits could increase rather than suppress how much people gamble.

Speaking to the Chair of the inquiry about deposits, Lang said:

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“… setting a limit which is higher than what other people can afford might have the perverse outcome of that person thinking, 'If I've got a $500 limit, I can bet $500,' when the level of gambling that they can safely sustain is much lower than that.”

Lang reiterated his position when questioned about the potential impact of loss limits on the community. Using the same logic, he argues that when you inform players that a certain amount of money is “safe to lose”, you risk artificially elevating their appetite for risk.

The response that if losses and low-level deposit baskets increase, the government can lower them even further and demand more bank statements and other documentation from those who want to gamble more has been exposed as being short-sighted and authoritarian.

Rather than encourage safer gambling, it will most likely tank the local channelisation rates, leading to a more robust gambling black market and increased player risk.