Australians are losing more money to gambling each year than the federal government spends on aged care and almost as much as it spends on the national disability insurance scheme, a new report has found.
The report by Equity Economics found that despite the cost-of-living crisis, the amount of money being lost to gambling has significantly increased. Expenditure on gambling has also risen faster than the cost of education, housing and inflation.
“There is a hidden, unspoken black hole in household budgets that government cost-of-living policies has failed to address,” the report said. “This black hole is gambling losses.
“Governments have responded swiftly in recent years to the cost-of-living crisis, but there had been a complete policy vacuum on mitigating the cost-of-living impacts of gambling,” the report said.
According to the report, Australians lose $31.5bn to the gambling industry each year. The authors drew a direct comparison to the $28.3bn the federal government spends on the aged care sector each year and the $35.2bn it allocates for the NDIS.
“Contrary to expectations, gambling expenditure relative to household expenditure has not decreased amidst the cost-of-living crisis,” the report said. “Instead, it has continued to rise year on year after the temporary dip caused by Covid-19 venue and event closures, to return to pre-pandemic levels.
“Lower-income households are particularly vulnerable, as the rising cost of essential goods and services further squeezes already tight budgets, leaving even less room for unexpected expenses, emergencies, or discretionary spending.”
The report was commissioned by the Alliance for Gambling Reform and Wesley Mission, which are both long-term campaigners for stronger restrictions on gambling advertising and operating hours.
The alliance’s chief executive, Martin Thomas, said gambling was often ignored as a cost-of-living impact on families.
“Gambling reforms, such as banning gambling advertising, represent a non-inflationary, low-cost suite of initiatives that would bring profound relief to families,” Thomas said.
Wesley Mission’s chief executive, Stu Cameron, said state and federal governments had not taken enough action to address “spiralling gambling losses”.
“Every day we see the impact of gambling losses on families, yet for too long it has remained a hidden, unspoken black hole in household budgets that governments have failed to address,” Cameron said.
“There is overwhelming public support for banning gambling advertising. It’s time for the major parties to stop dancing to the tune of the sports gambling industry and have the political will and moral courage to act in accordance with the community’s wishes.”
The Monash University associate professor Charles Livingstone has previously told Guardian Australia that gambling losses often increase during times of financial hardship because “people gamble when they are desperate”.
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“Desperate people often turn to desperate measures and some people unfortunately think they have an opportunity to win something,” Livingstone said.
“The more prevailing reason for this is people under stress are more likely to develop a gambling habit as it relieves their stress and that’s the same reason why there are so many poker machines in areas of disadvantage.”
The Equity Economics report said gambling losses “disproportionately burden those households least able to afford them”.
“Given gambling’s public health impact, addictive nature and significant negative externalities, coupled with insufficient regulation and widespread accessibility, there is a clear need for stronger government intervention,” the report said.
On Tuesday, the NSW government announced it no longer planned to remove 9,500 poker machines from the state over the next five years, despite pledging to do so before the state election.
During a parliamentary hearing, the state’s gaming minister, David Harris, said the government’s policy had changed after listening to advice from an independent panel on gambling reform.
The panel’s members included several groups that operate or profit from poker machines including Clubs NSW, the Australian Hotels Association, Gaming Technologies Australia and Leagues Clubs Australia.
