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When a casual punt turns into addictive gambling – how to ensure it won’t really cost you

<p>Gambling is a real and growing problem. Left unchecked, the occasional punt can quickly develop into an addiction, with devastating effects on finances and relationships. Debts can spiral and the stress causes marriages to fail and other relationships to splinter.</p> <p><a href="https://www.monash.edu/medicine/news/latest/2022-articles/gambling-and-homelessness-a-growing-problem-amongst-older-australians">Research published in 2022 by Monash University</a> also found that gambling and homelessness are “interconnected”, singling out senior Australians as most in the firing line.</p> <p>Before things devolve to that level, consider these steps for putting boundaries around your – or your partner’s – gambling.</p> <p><strong>Remember: Big business is big for a reason</strong></p> <p>In 2023, the <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/gambling">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)</a> noted that “Australians lose approximately $25 billion on legal forms of gambling each year, representing the largest per capita losses in the world”. That equates to every single Aussie losing $909 annually. </p> <p>The reality is these companies exist to make money – and skew the odds in their favour, not yours. Keep that in mind the next time you’re tempted to try your “luck”.</p> <p><strong>Stay active</strong></p> <p>For some people, especially retirees, gambling becomes something to pass the time and get them out of the house. </p> <p>However, you needn’t gamble your money away to keep boredom at bay. There are healthier and more productive ways to do this. </p> <p>For example, there are a myriad of social, sporting, and recreational groups for seniors and retirees. A lack of work commitments offers the flexibility to indulge in travel, both within Australia and overseas. Take the opportunity to socialise with friends and family. Turn your hobby or side hustle into a proper business. Or get a dog you can take for long walks. The possibilities are endless…</p> <p><strong>Don’t punt with what you can’t afford to lose</strong></p> <p>Gambling with a bit of money you have specifically put aside for leisure activities is one thing; gambling your life savings or money needed for essentials like food, bills and keeping a roof over your head is quite another. </p> <p>Having lost that essential money, problem gamblers often become desperate to try and win it back – begging, borrowing or even stealing more, with the repercussions quickly spiralling out of control as that money is often lost too.</p> <p>If you must gamble, only gamble what you can afford to lose: have a budgeted amount and stick to it no matter what. Anyone who deep-down knows they aren’t disciplined with their money would be wise to think twice altogether.</p> <p><strong>Never borrow to gamble</strong></p> <p>As a rule of thumb, money that comes with a cost attached to it should only ever be spent on things that will make more money in the long run, like buying a home or investing. </p> <p>When it comes to gambling, always use your free cash. Money you have borrowed, redrawn from your home loan, or racked up on your credit card will have to be repaid eventually – with interest on top.</p> <p><strong>Choose a place and a time</strong></p> <p>“Most people using gambling machines are older Australians,” <a href="https://www.monash.edu/medicine/news/latest/2022-articles/gambling-and-homelessness-a-growing-problem-amongst-older-australians">Monash University’s Associate Professor Charles Livingstone says</a>. This type of gambling is where things can easily turn sinister.</p> <p>To help keep things in check, limit your gambling to special occasions or events. That might be a flutter on the Melbourne Cup, a game of two-up on ANZAC Day, or a Lotto ticket as a birthday treat. It will mean more if it is tied to something special and an experience you can share with loved ones. Which leads into our next point:</p> <p><strong>Avoid gambling alone</strong></p> <p>Gambling by yourself can be a recipe for disaster. You don’t have a second pair of eyes over what you are doing or that trusted person to step in and say, ‘that’s enough’. </p> <p>In fact, I recommend couples always take a joint approach to their finances, regardless of whether gambling is involved. Leaving all the “money stuff” up to one of you means less accountability and opens the door for shared money and assets to be used improperly.</p> <p><strong>Ask for help</strong></p> <p>If you recognise things are getting out of hand, don’t suffer in silence. </p> <p>Talk things through with your partner, adult children or a trusted friend. Alternatively, contact <a href="https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/">Gambling Help Online</a> (1800 858 858) for free support 24/7 right across Australia.</p> <p>The sooner you get help, the faster you can limit the fallout and get things back under control!</p> <p><em><strong>Helen Baker is a licensed Australian financial adviser and author of On Your Own Two Feet: The Essential Guide to Financial Independence for all Women. Helen is among the 1% of financial planners who hold a master’s degree in the field. Proceeds from book sales are donated to charities supporting disadvantaged women and children. Find out more at <a href="http://www.onyourowntwofeet.com.au/">www.onyourowntwofeet.com.au</a></strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>Disclaimer: The information in this article is of a general nature only and does not constitute personal financial or product advice. Any opinions or views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent those of people, institutions or organisations the owner may be associated with in a professional or personal capacity unless explicitly stated. Helen Baker is an authorised representative of BPW Partners Pty Ltd AFSL 548754.</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>Image credits: Shutterstock</strong></em></p> <p><strong><em> </em></strong></p>

Money & Banking

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Pokies? Lotto? Sports betting? Which forms of problem gambling affect Australians the most?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alex-russell-133860">Alex Russell</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/cquniversity-australia-2140">CQUniversity Australia</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-browne-97705">Matthew Browne</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/cquniversity-australia-2140">CQUniversity Australia</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-rockloff-569">Matthew Rockloff</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/cquniversity-australia-2140">CQUniversity Australia</a></em></p> <p>Gambling, especially sports and race betting, is a hot political issue at the moment.</p> <p>This is largely due to the recommendations from a 2023 report from a nonpartisan federal government committee, chaired by the late Peta Murphy, called <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Report">You Win Some, You Lose More</a>.</p> <p>This report <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Report/List_of_recommendations">recommended</a> “the Australian government, with the cooperation of the states and territories, implement a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising for online gambling”.</p> <p>This has led to lots of debate and controversy.</p> <p>Recently, Peter V’landys, head of the NRL and Racing NSW, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nanny-state-nrl-afl-storm-the-field-over-gambling-ads-20240920-p5kc2q.html">claimed</a> lotteries were more harmful than race and sports betting combined, citing independent statistics.</p> <p>Let’s explore the relative harm of different types of gambling and see if this claim holds up.</p> <h2>Australians love a punt</h2> <p>Gambling is widespread in Australia, with <a href="https://www.gamblingresearch.org.au/publications/second-national-study-interactive-gambling-australia-2019-20">more than half of adults</a> engaging in at least one form each year.</p> <p>According to the <a href="https://www.gamblingresearch.org.au/publications/second-national-study-interactive-gambling-australia-2019-20">latest national data</a>, lotteries are the most common type (40% of Australians buy a ticket annually), followed by race betting (17%), pokies (16%), scratchies (15.7%) and sports betting (9.6%).</p> <p>However, the popularity of a gambling form doesn’t necessarily reflect its harm. Different gambling activities have distinct characteristics.</p> <p>Two key factors mean that some gambling forms are more harmful than others: the speed of gambling and bet size.</p> <p>Pokies allow for frequent, small bets, with spins every three seconds. Race and sports betting can involve much larger sums and betting that is relatively fast, but still slower than pokie spins.</p> <p>Sports betting, in particular, is getting faster with in-play betting and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30386964/">microbetting</a>.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hI_XFOc4is0?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">Poker machines, or ‘pokies’ are the biggest single source of gambling losses in Australia.</span></figcaption></figure> <p>Lotteries, on the other hand, are much slower-paced.</p> <p>People typically spend a small amount on tickets and wait for a draw to find out if they’ve won.</p> <p>Although it’s possible to spend a lot on tickets, <a href="https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/statistics/theme/society/gambling/australian-gambling-statistics">people tend not to</a>, unlike with faster gambling forms.</p> <p>The average spend on pokies among the 16% who play them is around $4,782 per year, compared to an average spend on lotteries of $377 per year. These are averages. Most won’t spend these amounts but some will spend far more, which raises the average amount.</p> <p>V’landys’ claim about lotteries being more harmful than race and sports betting was based on “independent statistics”.</p> <p>He said that of 100 people seeking help from a gambling hotline, 70 had issues with pokies, 15 with lotteries, eight with race betting, four with sports betting, and three with casinos.</p> <p>We were unable to verify these figures – if anyone has the data, we’d love to see the research to assess them.</p> <p>However, we do have publicly available data.</p> <h2>What the data say</h2> <p>The NSW GambleAware website’s <a href="https://www.gambleaware.nsw.gov.au/-/media/ghs-annual-activity-report-2020-21.ashx?rev=e070f9c8bdbf4031816a852f27246c54&amp;hash=C5FC3AA23BE5F2EF69D551A5E2292BA9#:%7E:text=Of%20the%20clients%20receiving%20counselling,36.9%25%20of%20all%20female%20clients.">2020-21</a> report shows that of 2,886 people seeking help, 73.3% identified pokies as their primary form of gambling, while only 13 people (less than 1%) listed lotteries. Race betting accounted for 13.1%, and sports betting for 7.9%.</p> <p>These patterns were consistent with <a href="https://www.gambleaware.nsw.gov.au/about-us/corporate-documents">previous years</a>.</p> <p>People who experience problems also usually take part in more than one form of gambling, as the NSW report showed.</p> <p>When these secondary gambling activities were considered, sports betting was cited by 35.5%, race betting by 33.5%, pokies by 19.5%, and lotteries by 13.7%.</p> <h2>What we discovered</h2> <p>The best evidence on gambling problems and harm comes from large-scale prevalence studies, typically commissioned by governments and conducted by independent researchers.</p> <p>These studies offer high-quality insights into how each gambling form contributes to problems.</p> <p>While one prevalence study is great, our team recently combined data from seven national and state-based prevalence studies. This resulted in a very high-quality dataset that we can use to study this question.</p> <p>In <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/12/1/article-p182.xml">our analysis</a>, we used statistical techniques to show how strongly each gambling form is associated with problems.</p> <p>These techniques give us regression coefficients, which are just numbers that tell us how strong the association is. A higher number means a stronger association between that form and gambling problems.</p> <p>The most problematic form was pokies (coefficient = 0.147), followed by casino games (0.136), sports betting (0.068) and race betting (0.038).</p> <p>Lotteries, with a coefficient of 0.001, were the least problematic and were not statistically significant even in our large sample.</p> <p>As you might guess from such a low number, there’s very little relationship between lotteries and gambling problems.</p> <h2>What about prevalence?</h2> <p>Prevalence matters too – while pokies were most strongly associated with problems, the number of people participating in each gambling form is also important.</p> <p>Let’s consider an analogy – a car that gives out a lot of exhaust fumes. That car is harmful, but if virtually no one owns one, then it’s not going to account for much pollution.</p> <p>The same idea applies for gambling forms. If a gambling form is very harmful but very few people do it, it doesn’t account for many problems in the population.</p> <p>It works the other way, too – if there is a very clean type of car that many people drive, they also won’t add up to much pollution.</p> <p>Similarly, if we have gambling forms that have very little association with problems, it won’t add up to many problems in the population, even if lots of people take part.</p> <p>The regression coefficients tell us how problematic each gambling form is. Prevalance tells us how many people do it.</p> <p>When we combine these two bits of information, we can work out the degree of problems in the community that come from each form.</p> <p>When we did this, pokies were responsible for 52-57% of gambling problems in the community.</p> <p>Sports and race betting each contributed 9-11%, with a combined total of around 20%.</p> <p>Lotteries accounted for just 0.1-1% of problems.</p> <p>Even if we include scratchies as part of lotteries, this only adds another 2-5% of problems, still far below sports and race betting.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="quxHH" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: 0;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/quxHH/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <hr /> <h2>The real issue</h2> <p>What’s the takeaway?</p> <p>Lotteries are widely played but are not typically associated with much harm.</p> <p>Sports and race betting, despite having fewer participants, are more harmful due to their faster pace and the potential for large, frequent bets.</p> <p>Lotteries involve slower betting and lower spending, making them much less risky.</p> <p>If we aim to reduce gambling harm in our community, the focus should be on pokies, which are widespread in pubs and clubs <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/12/3/article-p721.xml">outside WA</a>, casino games and race and sports betting.</p> <p>These forms have features that make them far more harmful than slower-paced gambling like lotteries.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/240665/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alex-russell-133860">Alex Russell</a>, Principal Research Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/cquniversity-australia-2140">CQUniversity Australia</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-browne-97705">Matthew Browne</a>, Senior Lecturer in Statistics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/cquniversity-australia-2140">CQUniversity Australia</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-rockloff-569">Matthew Rockloff</a>, Head, Experimental Gambling Research Lab, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/cquniversity-australia-2140">CQUniversity Australia</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/pokies-lotto-sports-betting-which-forms-of-problem-gambling-affect-australians-the-most-240665">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Money & Banking

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Thief gambles away $64k raised for alleged murder victim's family

<p>A gambling addict has been sentenced to 400 hours unpaid community service after admitting to stealing $64,000 from a GoFundMe page intended for a grieving family. </p> <p>Lachlan Morganti, 26, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a single charge of theft, as magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz sentenced him to a two-year community corrections order and 400 hours of unpaid work.</p> <p>The court was told that Morganti set up the fundraising page on behalf of the family of allegedly murdered woman Hannah McGuire, who <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/you-were-our-whole-damn-sky-tributes-flow-after-alleged-murder-of-young-teacher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a> on April 5th this year.</p> <p>He had become acquainted with the family, who managed The National Hotel in Clunes, through their support of the Clunes Cricket Club where he played. </p> <p>“Hannah was known by many as a bright young woman and had a heart of gold,” the fundraiser read.</p> <p>“All proceeds will go towards funeral costs and other expenses the family may need during this tough time.”</p> <p>In just a few days, the GoFundMe page raised more than $64,000 in generous donations from the community. </p> <p>The funds dropped in Morganti’s bank account on April 24th, but he almost immediately began to gamble with it, losing the full amount in four to five days.</p> <p>After his arrest, Morganti told police he had an “uncontrollable” gambling addiction and internally justified it by believing he would only use a small portion to fix his mounting gambling debts.</p> <p>“I accept the act of creating the GoFundMe was meant as an altruistic act, that it was intended as a selfless act to benefit the grieving McGuire family,” Ms Mykytowycz said. </p> <p>“However, the temptation to use this money to recover previous debts became overwhelming and self-indulgent.”</p> <p>In a statement to the court, Hannah's mother Debbie McGuire said it was important to note no one from their family had asked for support or for Morganti to start the GoFundMe, adding that Morganti had the “audacity” to attend Hannah’s funeral among many of those whose contributions he had stolen.</p> <p>“Not only did the accused violate our trust, but he had a complete disregard of the trust and generosity of an entire community,” she said.</p> <p><em>Image credits: GoFundMe / news.com.au</em></p>

Legal

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Aussies top global list for biggest gambling losses

<p>A new report has revealed that Australians are the biggest gambling losers in the world, with the average Australian adult gambling away $1635 per year according to the Grattan Institute think tank. </p> <p>That is more than most households pay for power and exceeds the average spend in similar countries like the US and New Zealand. </p> <p>Collectively, Australians lost $24 billion to gambling in 2020-21, with half of that amount lost through poker machines. </p> <p>The rest was lost on sports or race betting, in casinos, and on lotteries and Keno. </p> <p>The report also claims that there are more pokies than post boxes and public toilets across Australia, bringing light to the "lax approach" that has let the industry "run wild". </p> <p>"Gambling products are designed to be addictive, and the consequences can be catastrophic: job loss, bankruptcy, relationship breakdown, family violence, even suicide," the report's authors wrote.</p> <p>People in the Northern Territory and NSW lost the most amount of money, with the two states having the highest concentration of polies in their jurisdiction. </p> <p>The report recommended the federal government ban all gambling advertisements and urged them to cut the number of pokies in each state over time.</p> <p>They also suggested a mandatory pre-commitment system for online gambling and pokies, which would put a limit on daily losses. </p> <p>There are many different ways to get help and information about gambling. Call the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858; use <a href="https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/tools-resources/chat-counselling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">online counselling</a>. </p> <p><em>Images: </em><em>SNEHIT PHOTO / Shutterstock.com</em></p> <p> </p>

Money & Banking

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Does free-to-air TV really need gambling ads to survive?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-hughes-2728">Andrew Hughes</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></p> <p>If anything is a sure bet right now, it’s corporate Australia’s willingness to use some variation of the “for society’s good” argument.</p> <p>The most recent example of this is the claim being made, including by federal minister <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/13/gambling-ad-ban-labor-bill-shorten-tv-media-advertising-revenue">Bill Shorten</a>, that an outright ban on gambling advertising would be disastrous for free-to-air TV.</p> <p>To be clear, Labor still supports new restrictions on gambling advertisements, including hourly caps and bans during kids’ TV and during and around sports broadcasts.</p> <p>But it has rejected the idea of a total ban, prompting a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-mps-say-total-ban-is-the-only-way-on-gambling-ads-20240812-p5k1q0.html">backlash</a> extending as far as some of its own backbench MPs.</p> <p>Speaking on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, Shorten said Australia’s free-to-air TV broadcasters were in “diabolical trouble”, with many needing gambling ad revenue “in order just to stay afloat”.</p> <p>“I’m not convinced that complete prohibition works,” he said.</p> <p>So would our commercial TV networks really fall over tomorrow without gambling ad revenue? Or is something else at play?</p> <h2>Who is buying ads in Australia?</h2> <p>Let’s start by building a bigger picture of where advertising spend more broadly comes from in Australia. Global analytics firm Nielsen regularly compiles <a href="https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2024/top-20-categories-by-ad-spend-for-2023-revealed-in-latest-nielsen-ad-intel-report/#:%7E:text=Retail%20topped%20the%20list%20with,significant%20investment%20of%20%24596m.">top 20</a> lists of both the categories and individual companies spending the most on ads here.</p> <p>In 2023 the top category, retail, accounted for A$2.56 billion in advertising spend. Gambling and gaming, in contrast, represented just $239 million, less than a tenth of this figure.</p> <p>Harvey Norman topped the list of <a href="https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2024/australias-top-20-highest-spending-advertisers-of-2023-revealed-in-latest-nielsen-ad-intel-report/">individual companies</a> in 2023. The first we see of any gambling brand is Sportsbet, which came in at 16th.</p> <p>For gambling companies, it’s fair to assume the lion’s share of this goes to TV. <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/publications/2023-10/report/gambling-advertising-australia-placement-and-spending">Research</a> by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found 68% of gambling companies’ ad spend went to free-to-air TV markets.</p> <p>As for the remainder, 9% went to radio, 15% to social media and 8% to other online platforms.</p> <h2>How much is actually getting spent?</h2> <p>But how do we estimate the gambling industry’s total annual advertising spend? There are certainly a lot of numbers getting thrown around.</p> <p>One <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/tv-networks-to-demand-fee-relief-as-40m-wagering-hole-opens-up-20240804-p5jzav">source</a> put it at $300.5 million for 2022.</p> <p>More recently, ACMA published detailed figures for the period between May 2022 and April 2023 which put it at just over <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/publications/2023-10/report/gambling-advertising-australia-placement-and-spending">$238 million</a>, with $162 million of this going to free-to-air TV networks.</p> <p>But the way advertising is classified – what defines an advertisement – can sometimes differ between agencies. Then there is the <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/check-if-gambling-operator-legal#register-licensed-gambling">number of brands operating</a>, which is constantly changing.</p> <p>In a market with so many competitors, any new entrant needs to spend big on advertising just to capture enough market share to be viable.</p> <p>This is why I argue that the actual figure for financial year 2023 may be slightly higher than ACMA’s widely quoted figure, accounting for the big ad spend of new entrants that may have fallen outside the time window assessed.</p> <p>Based on average company ad spend as a percentage of revenue and the size of the gambling industry, I estimate it could be higher, in the ballpark of $275 million.</p> <h2>How much is that to the networks?</h2> <p>This exercise is all about putting these figures in context.</p> <p>Channel Seven, for example, brought in <a href="https://www.sevenwestmedia.com.au/assets/Uploads/Final-2023-Annual-Report.pdf">$1.5 billion in revenue in 2023</a>. Even if it had received the gambling industry’s entire ad spend at my higher estimate of $275 million, this would still only account for less than 20% of its annual turnover.</p> <p>If that money all went to TV ads, Channel Seven’s stated 38.5% share of television advertising revenue would put its revenue from the estimated sports betting advertising at about $106 million in this example, around 7% of its total annual revenue.</p> <p>Losing most of that would hurt, but wouldn’t mortally threaten the business.</p> <p>A total ban would most likely be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-13/peta-murphy-left-online-gambling-legacy-why-isn-t-labor-adopting/104217328">phased in</a> over a number of years, not enacted overnight.</p> <p>Australia’s free-to-air networks would adapt, restrategise, and find and develop new markets to replace that revenue. Their management teams are far too smart to just shrug their shoulders and take a revenue hit on the corporate chin.</p> <h2>Networks have had plenty of time to adapt</h2> <p>Just a refresher. LinkedIn is now more than 20 years old. Facebook is 20. YouTube is 19. X (formerly known as Twitter) is 18. TikTok is seven.</p> <p>If free-to-air TV’s business model is so glacial it can’t function in the digital age, it probably doesn’t deserve to be operating in the big leagues.</p> <p>Digital is here and has been for a while now. The media industry has borne the brunt of this change, but has also had the most time to adapt to the disruptors, who are now more established oligopolies and duopolies than “cool start-ups” out of Silicon Valley.</p> <p>The argument that we need to protect sports gambling ads to protect the big media brands – has little to no basis. It’s a worn out argument we’ve seen time and time again – <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-push-to-end-tobacco-advertising-in-the-1970s-could-be-used-to-curb-gambling-ads-today-200915">big tobacco</a>, I’m looking at you.</p> <p>Protecting the interests of corporate Australia at the cost of society itself is a gamble none of us should be prepared to take.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/236686/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-hughes-2728">Andrew Hughes</a>, Lecturer, Research School of Management, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-free-to-air-tv-really-need-gambling-ads-to-survive-236686">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Money & Banking

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"It seems crazy": Shane Dixon's gambling friend breaks his silence

<p>The man who befriended Shane Dixon on a P&amp;O Cruise before he plunged overboard has broken his silence, saying he too fell victim to seductive gambling tactics.</p> <p>The man, James, and his friends met Shane on the first day of the Elvis themed cruise and casually socialised throughout the entire trip. </p> <p>James, his friends, and Shane all spent time together in the onboard casino, where James was shocked by the blatant practices used by the cruise line to lure gamblers to the table.</p> <p>"We all got given free cruises to use in the next six months from the casino director and I myself racked up almost $2,000 gambling which was charged to my credit card, something I would never normally do in a million years," James told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13415149/p-o-cruises-gambling-shane-dixon-suicide-pacific-adventure.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Daily Mail Australia</em></a>.</p> <p>"He [Shane] was a great guy and it’s so wrong how the casinos push so hard to get you to gamble more.'"</p> <p>When onboard a P&amp;O cruise, customers use their room key, or "cruise card", as a form of currency to pay for various items onboard the ships. </p> <p>Passengers can either pay "cash" by topping their cruise card up with set cash amounts using machines located around the vessel or by "card" by linking it to a credit or debit card.</p> <p>James said the same payment methods extend to the casino, as every time a passenger plays a game in the casino they need to scan their cruise card, regardless of which type of payment arrangement they have set up.</p> <p>When funds are depleted, players have the option to select "charge room" to add more money and the bill will be charged to the card associated with your room at the end of every day.</p> <p>James said paying with this method makes it difficult to track how much you have spent, particularly as there is no internet on board to monitor transactions through online banking.</p> <p>When James, luckily, won back most of his debt and chose to walk away from the table before any more damage occurred, he asked the cashier if he could enter a self-exclusion arrangement to bar him as he didn't trust himself to not spend the cash.</p> <p>However, James said the cashier told him self-exclusion was not an option.</p> <p>"They should have been able to [disable my room key] just like they do with minors, but the cashier said they don’t know how or if it’s even possible," he said.</p> <p>"It seems crazy!"</p> <p>According to P&amp;O's website, self-exclusion is one of the initiatives punters can access under the company's "commitment to the responsible delivery of gaming on our ships".</p> <p>The last time James saw Shane was while they were all dancing together in a bar at midnight on Monday. While he left to go to a club, Shane went back to the casino and just four hours later, the father-of-three was dead. </p> <p>"We were all drinking heavily but he was full of energy and happy," James said, recalling their last encounter.</p> <p>"He had been saying how he had lost heaps at the casino but we didn't know his situation so didn’t know how much of a big deal it was. He didn’t seem overly upset about it at the time. He seemed fine."</p> <p>Shane had racked up over $4,000 in gambling debt, and went overboard while the ship was making its way into Sydney Harbour. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Facebook / Shutterstock</em></p>

Cruising

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“These are people’s lives”: Calls for gambling reform after fatal cruise ship plunge

<p>The shocking death of a 50-year-old father who went overboard on a P&O Cruise has caused widespread outrage, with many questioning who is to blame for his untimely passing. </p> <p>Shane Dixon had racked up $5,000 of gambling debt while onboard the Elvis-themed voyage, which his mother, who was also travelling with him, helped him to repay. </p> <p>The next day, Dixon went back to the cruise ship's casino where he racked up another $4,000 in debt, before he plunged to his death while the vessel was on its way into Sydney Harbour. </p> <p>While questions have arisen about the circumstances surrounding his death, the CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform Carol Bennett said the cruise ship operator had failed to provide Shane with an adequate duty of care, and encouraged him to keep gambling. </p> <p>"It's really concerning that when a ship sails 12 nautical miles off the coast it can then allow anything and everything to happen," she told <em><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13414919/Anti-gambling-Shane-Dixon-cruise-ship-casino.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail Australia</a></em>.  </p> <p>"The rules that might apply on land no longer seem to apply and yet you would expect this cruise line would have some kind of duty of care to ensure that people are not plied with inducements, promotions and advertisements that are pushing them to gamble to extremely harmful levels."</p> <p>"It is just beyond belief that there is not an expectation that when a cruise ship leaves a dock that the rules of that jurisdiction apply."</p> <p>"But clearly that's not the case and we leave it all in the hands of the cruise line operator who may or may not apply the responsible service of gambling."</p> <p>Ms Bennett said it was "fundamental" that gamblers were able to set spend limits, self-exclude themselves and be in an environment free of inducements: all of which are required by law when it comes to casinos on Australian soil. </p> <p>"This is just basic harm reduction that any provider or organisation that is providing gambling services should be complying with," she said. </p> <p>"And if they're not, we need to really seriously think about what governments need to do to address this problem because you do wonder how widespread this is. This could be just the tip of the iceberg."</p> <p>Ms Bennett said Australia loses an estimated $25billion on legal forms of gambling each year, with the consequences spreading far beyond the impact on the economy. </p> <p>"It leads to everything from domestic and family violence to health and mental health issues, anxiety, depression, financial distress, right through to suicide," she said. </p> <p>"It is a huge and to some degree hidden problem in Australia, which is why we need stronger enforcement of safeguards and guardrails around gambling that don't see people led into a situation where they see no other way out but suicide."</p> <p>"These are peoples lives. For every person who gambles, there are six people around them who are going to be directly impacted."</p> <p>Labor backbencher Graham Perrett said the British cruise line most likely operated under the UK's gambling laws.</p> <p>"My understanding is that the UK gambling laws are not dissimilar to ours in terms of marketing and advertising," he said. </p> <p>"It's not just a gambling free-for-all, even if they are outside our territorial seas they still have to follow the laws of the UK."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Facebook / Shutterstock</em></p>

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Two-up, Gallipoli and the ‘fair go’: why illegal gambling is at the heart of the Anzac myth

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bruce-moore-291912">Bruce Moore</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></p> <p>Two-up is an Australian gambling game in which two coins are placed on a small piece of wood called a “kip” and tossed into the air. Bets are laid as to whether both coins will fall with heads or tails uppermost. It is one of the core activities of Anzac Day celebrations - and a beloved tradition.</p> <p>The word <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ANZAC">ANZAC</a> was created in 1915 as an acronym from Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. By 1916 it was being used emblematically to reflect the traditional view of the virtues displayed by those in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Gallipoli-Campaign">Gallipoli campaign</a>, especially as these are seen as national characteristics. This cluster of national characteristics includes mateship, larrikin daredevilry, anti-authoritarianism, and egalitarianism.</p> <p>The game of two-up became indicative of these qualities. Mateship was evident in the way the game brought together people of disparate backgrounds. Larrikinism was evident in the defiant rejection of authority and convention.</p> <p>Two-up was always illegal, because the game is an unregulated form of gambling (although from the 1980s it became legal in most Australian states on Anzac Day). But in spite of the illegality, it was widely regarded as the fairest of gambling games, and at the time of the First World War the verbal command for the coins to be spun was not “come in spinner” (as it is now) but “fair go”. Indeed, the important Australian concept of the “fair go” was in part cemented by its role in the game.</p> <p>Two-up was the common pastime of the urban working-class man, and it feeds into the elements of egalitarianism and anti-authoritarianism that are central to both the Anzac myth and the Australian myth.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=466&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=466&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=466&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=585&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=585&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458543/original/file-20220419-17-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=585&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">Two original 1915 Australian pennies in a kip from which they are tossed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roland Scheicher/ Wikimedia</span></span></figcaption></figure> <h2>Two-up and wartime life</h2> <p>From the very early period of the First World War, two-up assumed great importance among the Australian troops. Soldiers reported that two-up was played on the battlefield during the Gallipoli campaign, even when under shellfire. As the war dragged on, numerous stories were told about Australian soldiers’ obsession with playing it.</p> <p>In 1918 the <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10676229">war correspondent Charles Bean</a> studied the daily life of a company of Australian soldiers stationed at a brewery in Querrieu in northern France.</p> <p>He places great emphasis on two-up, writing in his diary in 1918: "Two-up’ is the universal pastime of the men. … It is a game which starts in any quarter of an hour’s interval or lasts the whole afternoon. The side road outside becomes every evening a perfect country fair with groups playing these games in it - a big crowd of 70 or 80 at the bottom the street, in the middle of the road; a smaller crowd of perhaps twenty on a doorstep further up. … The game is supposed to be illegal, I think; but at any rate in this company they wink at it."</p> <p>Two-up was important not just in taking soldiers’ minds off the realities of the war, but also in creating a strong sense of community. Photographs from the war that show the men playing two-up reveal how it brought them together physically in a communal activity.</p> <p>This helps explains why men, who in civilian life may have had little or no interest in gambling, joined in the camaraderie and fun of the two-up fair, and by so doing blotted out the boredom, isolation, and loneliness of much wartime experience.</p> <h2>Anzac Day and tradition</h2> <p>Playing two-up became an integral part of the diggers’ memories of the experience of war, especially when commemorated on Anzac Day. By the 1930s the playing of two-up outdoors after the Anzac Day march had become an entrenched tradition.</p> <p>As the ranks of diggers from the two world wars declined, so the structure of Anzac Day changed in emphasis. In recent years the Dawn Service has increased greatly in popularity, while the Anzac Day march has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-07/concern-over-australias-dwindling-number-of-world-war-veterans/10911602">suffered from dwindling numbers</a> of veterans. The streets of Sydney and similar cities are no longer dotted with two-up games in the afternoon. The games have shifted to pubs and clubs, and they are largely played by people with no experience of war.</p> <p>Those people who play the game on this day do so not for any deep-seated gambling impulse or because they would love to play the game on every other day of the year. They play two-up because it has become part of the meaning of Anzac Day.</p> <p>Anzac Day has always combined solemnity and festivity. The Dawn Service commemorates the landing at Gallipoli, and the sacrifices that ensued. Its mood is solemn.</p> <p>In the past, returned soldiers reminisced, told war yarns, drank, and played two-up. The soldiers have passed on, but their larrikinism survives in the tradition of the game they have bequeathed to their descendants.</p> <p>We should not underestimate the significance of rituals of this kind—the playing of two-up is a way in which Australians can become not just observers of, but participants in, their history and their myths. Two-up is a ritual that links the present with the past on this one day of the year.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181337/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bruce-moore-291912">Bruce Moore</a>, Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Languages, and Linguistics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image </em><em>credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/two-up-gallipoli-and-the-fair-go-why-illegal-gambling-is-at-the-heart-of-the-anzac-myth-181337">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

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Australia has a strong hand to tackle gambling harm. Will it go all in or fold?

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charles-livingstone-2724">Charles Livingstone</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a></em></p> <p>A ban on all gambling advertising within three years has attracted the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/28/ads-for-online-gambling-should-be-banned-in-australia-within-three-years-inquiry-recommends">most attention</a> of the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Report/List_of_recommendations">31 recommendations</a> made by the Australian parliamentary inquiry into online gambling, which reported this week.</p> <p>But equally significant are the recommendations to adopt public health principles to prevent gambling harm, to appoint a national online regulator, and for Australian to lead the development of international agreements that “aim to reduce gambling harm and protect public policy and research from gambling industry interference”.</p> <p>If implemented, the recommendations will advance gambling regulation by several orders of magnitude.</p> <p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-020-01437-2">Preventing harm</a> is a better goal than the current practice of ignoring harms until they become overwhelming. Building a fence at the top of the cliff, rather than providing a fleet of ambulances at the bottom, seems sensible.</p> <p>Many countries are grappling with regulating unlicensed <a href="https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/blocking-measures-against-offshore-online-gambling-a-scoping-revi">online gambling operators</a> registered in places like Curaçao and the Isle of Man. The only way to effectively address this is via <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/pompidou/-/the-recording-of-the-webinar-on-behavioural-addictions-facilitated-by-information-and-communication-technologies-risks-and-perspectives-is-now-availab">international agreements</a>.</p> <p>And as with many other harmful commodity industries, gambling operators <a href="https://www.lisbonaddictions.eu/lisbon-addictions-2022/presentations/5-ways-gambling-industry-pursues-influence-policymakers">advance their interests</a> through political influence. They have enthusiastically utilised the tactics honed by the tobacco industry – <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03137.x">lobbying</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-14/how-the-gambling-industry-cashed-in-on-political-donations/100509026">political donations</a> and influencing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434195/">research outcomes</a> through funding.</p> <p>All these aspects need addressing. For example, the inquiry recommends imposing a levy on the gambling industry to fund research.</p> <h2>Phasing out advertising</h2> <p>The proposals to prohibit all inducements to gamble come in four phases.</p> <p>The first would ban all social media and online advertising. Radio advertising during school drop-off times would also be prohibited.</p> <p>In the second phase, broadcast advertising for an hour either side of sporting broadcasts would be banned (as Opposition Leader <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/13/peter-dutton-cranks-up-pressure-on-labor-to-further-restrict-gambling-ads">Peter Dutton has argued for</a>).</p> <p>The third stage would prohibit all broadcast advertising for gambling between 6am and 10pm.</p> <p>Finally, three years on, all gambling advertising would be gone from our screens.</p> <p>Not many people will miss it. A 2022 survey by the <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/polling-research-give-junk-food-gambling-ads-the-punt/">Australia Institute</a> found 70% support for such restrictions. The evidence suggests this would be beneficial to young people, since exposure to advertising increases the likelihood of gambling as adults, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/27/children-more-likely-to-become-gamblers-due-to-high-volume-of-betting-ads">with significant harm</a> for some.</p> <h2>Important precedents</h2> <p>The recommendations would set important precedents that can be readily applied to other forms of gambling. These include the principle of establishing a public health-oriented harm prevention policy, a national regulatory system, and enhancing consumer protections to potentially include a universal pre-commitment system.</p> <p>If online gambling can be better regulated – and it can – why not casinos and pokies? Casino inquiries in <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/papers/Pages/tabled-paper-details.aspx?pk=79129">New South Wales</a>, <a href="https://www.rccol.vic.gov.au/">Victoria</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.qld.gov.au/initiatives/external-review-qld-operations-star-entertainment-group">Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/perth-casino-royal-commission-final-report">Western Australia</a> have certainly demonstrated the need. So has the <a href="https://www.crimecommission.nsw.gov.au/inquiry-into-money-laundering-in-pubs-and-clubs">NSW Crime Commission</a>’s 2022 inquiry into money laundering in pubs and clubs. Notably, poker machines are estimated to be responsible for <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/12/1/article-p182.xml">51% to 57% of the total problems</a> arising from gambling. Race and sports wagering account for 20%.</p> <h2>Industry will resist</h2> <p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/gambling-ads-ban-called-an-over-reach-/102538120">online gambling industry</a> will do all it can to thwart these initiatives, along with <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/wagering-tv-bodies-slam-proposed-gambling-ads-ban-afl-wary-of-impact-20230628-p5dk4j.html">broadcasters</a> and some <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/scourge-of-the-gambling-epidemic-teal-mp-attacks-afl-over-gambling-ads-20230302-p5coym.html">sports</a> businesses.</p> <p>Certainly Australia’s unenviable record of being world leaders in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-20/australians-worlds-biggest-gambling-losers/10495566">gambling losses</a> will be threatened if the recommendations are implemented.</p> <p>The report <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Report/Chapter_2_-_A_national_strategy_on_online_gambling_harm_reduction">acknowledges</a> wagering service providers have “successfully framed the issue of gambling harm around personal responsibility while diminishing industry and government responsibility”.</p> <p>"There is too much potential for the gambling industry to be involved in the development of gambling regulation and policy in Australia."</p> <p>Submissions from the gambling industry reflected this.</p> <p>For example, <a href="https://responsiblewagering.com.au/">Responsible Wagering Australia</a>, which represents wagering companies such as Bet365, Betfair, Entain, Sportsbet, Pointsbet and Unibet, suggested the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Submissions">industry was focused on limiting harm</a>, and mindful of the risks of “problem gambling”.</p> <p>Indeed, the inquiry’s original terms of reference were about “online gambling and its impacts on problem gamblers”.</p> <p>The committee changed this to the “impacts on those experiencing gambling harm”. Its report reflects this change, and the majority of submissions and evidence given in <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Report/B_Public_hearings">13 public hearings</a> overwhelmingly in favour of improved regulation of online gambling product</p> <p>In the report’s forward, chair Peta Murphy writes: "I am proud to say this Committee has delivered a unanimous report that says, ‘enough is enough’."</p> <p>Gambling harm imposes <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/the-social-cost-of-gambling-to-victoria-121/">enormous costs</a> on the community, and on those affected, including families. Examples of these effects are prominent in the committee’s report. Many are harrowing.</p> <p>There is some way to go before Australia joins Italy, Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands in taking action against gambling interests. But delay means more harm to more people.</p> <p>The Australian government now has an excellent road map to demonstrate its commitment to the health and wellbeing of Australians. Adopting the inquiry’s recommendations should be a high priority.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208749/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charles-livingstone-2724">Charles Livingstone</a>, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-strong-hand-to-tackle-gambling-harm-will-it-go-all-in-or-fold-208749">original article</a>.</em></p>

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“I was wrong”: Dominic Perrottet admits Catholic faith played a role in gambling reform


<p>Dominic Perrottet has changed his tune. After reflecting on his decision to implement a new gambling policy, he admits his Catholic faith played a role.</p> <p>Last week ClubsNSW CEO Josh Landis made a comment claiming the premier’s “conservative Catholic gut” was linked to his decision to implement cashless poker machines across all venues in NSW. As a result, the ClubsNSW board decided to fire Landis.<br />Perrottet responded to the comment and claimed his views were “not informed by the fact that I’m Catholic.”</p> <p>Since then, Perrottet has changed his mind. He admitted that the decision was influenced by his Catholic faith. “Certainly my upbringing and my faith has had an impact,” the premier said.<br />“I don’t think that is something I should be ashamed of.”</p> <p>When asked why this policy is such a priority for him, he reflected on his time as NSW treasurer, “We were receiving revenue and profit from people’s misery.”</p> <p>Perrottet has been the state’s premier since October 2021, dealing with the state opening up after COVID and the Omnicron wave. “I haven't got everything right in the time I've been in politics, but you learn from it,” he said.</p> <p>“Politics is not easy. It's difficult and there will always be the external events and mistakes get made.”</p> <p>If Perrottet is re-elected this year, the gambling law overhaul will begin early next year with the roll-out of cashless poker machines.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Getty</em></p>

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No Pokies, no problems: The bowling club that never looked back

<p dir="ltr">Petersham Bowling Club was heading towards poverty, when the board’s decision to remove all of their pokies in 2007 changed their business for the better.</p> <p dir="ltr">Club president George Catsi said that the shift from pokies, a staple of many NSW bowling clubs, to live entertainment and other events has generated them more profit than the slots ever did, with a 700 per cent increase in turnover.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I came at it from a position of, this is a valuable space that’s here, the club owns the land. They could have developed it,” he told <em>news.com.au</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“So I suppose we came in on a platform of engagement, and we were feeling that the club wasn’t engaging with its community.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Over the last calendar week alone, the club has hosted trivia, life drawing, poetry, two music gigs, Pinot and Picasso, a community radio show, and Sunday bowls.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You’ve got to create a place that people go. This place is such a great vibe, and it’s got such interesting things going. People will fight for that,” Catsi said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is what clubs should be – they should be hubs. My problem with a lot of other clubs is that they forgot that.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Catsi said that they took over the bowling club because it was struggling, and recognised that the pokies weren’t “saving them” or a “guaranteed lifeline”, as they still needed to get people through to the club.</p> <p dir="ltr">He also said that clubs relying on the slot machines for income are “doomed” because they are not open to welcoming and accommodating to the wider communities.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Is it lazy income now? Yes, it is. Absolutely. Because it’s just embedded as part of your income stream, and you don’t want to let go of it,” Catsi said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s also governments … they’re also addicted to the gambling money.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Pokies are going to be one of the major issues for the upcoming NSW election on March 25.</p> <p dir="ltr">Both parties have vowed to make considerable changes, but neither are going to remove the slots completely.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

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"This is about looking after the vulnerable": Major gambling reform unveiled

<p>NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet plans to spend $340 million to overhaul the NSW gambling industry in what he describes as the largest social, community and law enforcement reforms in the state’s history.</p> <p>In order to stop problem gambling and eliminate money laundering in pubs and clubs, NSW is set to roll out cashless poker machines.</p> <p>There will be an introduction of mandatory cashless gambling across all venues in NSW. Any new machines purchased are required to be cashless and the roll out of the digital machines will begin early next year.</p> <p>The plan is for poker machines in NSW to be entirely cashless by 2028. It is an enormous transition. “I’ll work to ensure no-one is left behind, that no jobs are lost,” Perrottet said.</p> <p>The plan will provide no-interest loans for small and medium venues to assist them with the roll out of the cashless technology. It also provides a one-off $50,000 “diversification” grant for venues to invest in new income.</p> <p>Gamblers will also be able to set a daily limit for themselves, which will be locked for seven days in order to stop spending more than planned, and they will only be able to use money from their personal bank account; credit cards will no longer be accepted.</p> <p>“Today, we fix money laundering, we fix problem gambling and we support pubs and clubs across New South Wales,” Perrottet said.</p> <p>The reform is the result of a report released by the NSW Police Commission which had recommended many of the changes in attempt to stop money laundering.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Getty </em></p>

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Gaming 'loot boxes' linked to problem gambling

<p dir="ltr">Gamers who purchase 'loot boxes' - digital treasure chests filled with random items that you buy in games using real-world currency - are more likely to have a problem with gambling, according to new research.</p> <p dir="ltr">A study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2022.2141717" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Addiction Research &amp; Theory</a></em> has found that 57 percent of adults surveyed who had bought loot boxes had gambled in the same year, compared to 37 percent of a control group who hadn't bought the virtual items.</p> <p dir="ltr">While previous studies have found a link between loot box purchasing, gambling and problem gambling, this study explored whether this link was due to psychological risk factors for gambling, such as childhood neglect, emotional distress, and the tendency to act rashly when upset.</p> <p dir="ltr">After analysing the purchase history and questionnaires of 1,189 Canadian university students, along with 499 adults recruited from the community, they found that a similar proportion of the students and adults had bought loot boxes, with an average spend between $90.63 and $240.94 respectively.</p> <p dir="ltr">Among the students, 28 percent of loot box-purchasers also gambled, in comparison to 19 percent of those who hadn't bought any loot boxes.</p> <p dir="ltr">Students who reported buying more loot boxes and other 'riskier' habits were also more likely to have a gambling habit.</p> <p dir="ltr">While this wasn't seen in the adult group, the authors argue this may be due to the small sample size.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Findings indicate that loot box purchasing represents an important marker of risk for gambling and problem gambling among people who play video games," Sophie Coelho, a PhD student at Toronto’s York University, said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The persistent associations we observed between loot box purchasing and gambling may provide preliminary support for the role of loot boxes as a 'gateway' to gambling and eventually problem gambling.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Loot boxes may prime people to gamble and increase susceptibility to problem gambling."</p> <p dir="ltr">As for the role of gambling risk factors, the authors found that adverse childhood experiences, like abuse and neglect, were "most consistently associated with an increased likelihood of past-year gambling and greater problem gambling".</p> <p dir="ltr">They concluded that those with troubled upbringings have a "heightened vulnerability" to develop a gambling problem.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This may be compounded by engaging with gambling-like features embedded in video games, such as loot boxes," they added.</p> <p dir="ltr">Loot boxes, also called loot or prize crates, have become the subject of controversy recently, with concerns that their use of random chance to give players randomised weapons, armour, and items they can use to customise their character could be a form of gambling.</p> <p dir="ltr">In some games, loot boxes became a way to “pay to win”, with items that can affect gameplay and offer a competitive advantage, driving players to pay for more loot boxes to get items that allow them to compete with other players.</p> <p dir="ltr">Some countries have begun to introduce laws to regulate loot boxes, with Belgium and the Netherlands banning loot boxes altogether.</p> <p dir="ltr">In Australia, a law to restrict the use of loot boxes in games aimed at children has been proposed which could see games with loot boxes given a rating of R18+ or RC (“Refused Classification”, so they can't be sold in Australia) and carry warning labels.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-41c670f4-7fff-2eee-57fa-2721a448cf6e"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Sameboat, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)</em></p>

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Star Sydney suspension: how do casino operators found so unfit get to keep their licences?

<p>How low does a casino operator in Australia have to go before it loses its gaming licence?</p> <p>That question is still hanging after the punishment meted out to the operator of The Star Sydney casino – found to be “<a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2022-08/apo-nid319488.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not suitable</a> to be concerned in or associated with the management and operation of a casino in NSW”.</p> <p>A four-month inquiry into the casino found Star Entertainment’s management “rotten to the core” and documented, in a report of more than 900 pages, a litany of failings from flouting anti-money-laundering laws to deliberately misleading regulators.</p> <p>NSW’s new Independent Casino Commission, having given the company two weeks to “show cause” why it should not lose its casino licence, suspended that licence, appointed an emergency manager to run the casino for at least 90 days, and imposed a A$100 million fine.</p> <p>This is the maximum fine possible under laws introduced in August, and $20 million more than what Victoria’s regulator <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/melbournes-crown-casino-handed-record-80-million-fine-over-illegal-funds-transfer-scheme/o1i5k8724" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fined Crown Resorts in May</a>.</p> <p>The head of the Independent Casino Commission, Philip Crawford, <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/star-casino-licence-suspended" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it was “no longer in the public interest that the Star should remain in control of that licence”.</p> <p>This is progress of a kind from the new casino regulator, established this year to replace the former Independent Liquor &amp; Gaming Authority in light of that agency’s regulatory failings.</p> <p>But it raises obvious questions about the upshot of all the other casino inquiries – in NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland – that have found Star Entertainment and Crown Resorts unfit or unsuitable to hold casino licences.</p> <p>Yet not one casino has had to close its doors.</p> <h2>Saving jobs, and revenue</h2> <p>So what does a casino have to actually do to lose its licence?</p> <p>Looking at the case of The Star Sydney, it’s apparently not enough to allow more than A$900 million to pass through the casino in contravention of anti-money-laundering rules. Or to fabricate receipts to hide this. Neither is allowing a Macau-based junket operator with known links to criminal enterprise to run a high-roller room.</p> <p>Crawford defended not going further than suspending the casino licence, because Star Entertainment had “demonstrated genuine contrition” and to preserve the livelihoods of the casino’s employees:</p> <blockquote> <p>A big issue for us, to be frank, in this environment is that there is probably about 10,000 employees of the Star casino, and a lot of them rely on the income to pay their mortgages and raise their kids.</p> </blockquote> <p>This is, in part, recognition that culpability lies at the level of senior management, not croupiers, waiters and cleaners.</p> <p>Even so, such a rationale also suggests regulators are in danger of being trapped by a culture of considering operators “too big to fail”.</p> <h2>Too big to fail?</h2> <p>The Star Sydney employs an estimated <a href="https://www.zoominfo.com/c/the-star-entertainment-group/347613908" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8,000 people</a> at its site in Pyrmont.</p> <p>Crown Resorts has 11,500 people working at its Southbank premises in Melbourne and 6,000 at its Burswood site in Perth – making it the largest single-site private employer <a href="https://www.crownresorts.com.au/our-contribution/employment-training" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in Victoria and Western Australia</a>.</p> <p>By comparison, Australia’s biggest employer, Woolworths, employs 190,000 people across more than 1,000 Australian and New Zealand sites. The ABC <a href="https://www.zoominfo.com/pic/abc-australian-broadcasting-corporation/363975" target="_blank" rel="noopener">employs about 5,000</a> staff.</p> <h2>Raking in gaming revenue</h2> <p>But perhaps even more important than the jobs are the revenues that casinos deliver to state and territory governments.</p> <p>Figures from the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/government/taxation-revenue-australia/latest-release#data-download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a> show that, in 2020-21, states and territories collected A$7 billion in gambling taxes. More than half – nearly A$4 billion – came from casinos and gambling machines.</p> <p>The NSW government collected A$2.7 billion – 7.3% of its total revenue. The Victorian government collected A$1.6 billion – 5.4% of total revenue. Again, the vast majority came from gambling machines.</p> <p>The government most reliant on gambling revenue was the Northern Territory – with nearly 15% of its taxation income from gambling.</p> <p>Casinos are not only big business for private investors. They have become key to the sustainability of state and territory finances. That no casino has been forced to shut its doors is emblematic of this problematic and increasing financial reliance.</p> <p>It’s one thing to hold public inquiries and make adverse findings against casino operators. But, as with banks, the apparent reticience to revoke gaming licences signals that money, in the words of Cyndi Lauper, changes everything.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/star-sydney-suspension-how-do-casino-operators-found-so-unfit-get-to-keep-their-licences-192608" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

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Woman shares why she planned to sue after winning multi-million dollar jackpot

<p dir="ltr">A UK woman who won over a million dollars through the lottery has described it as a “twisted fairytale” rather than a dream come true.</p> <p dir="ltr">Jane Park, who won the £1 million Euromillions lottery in 2013, said winning big isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, revealing that she has been blackmailed and threatened with violence ever since, per <em><a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/19570621/jane-park-lottery-pleas-money-strangers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sun</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The lottery should come with a health warning similar to smoking or drinking,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I understand they can’t make winning sound awful but they have a responsibility to not mislead the public.”</p> <p dir="ltr">After threatening to sue Camelot, the company that sold her the fateful ticket when she was just 17, prompted changes preventing those under 18 from having a gamble, she said the change doesn’t go far enough.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Park also wants ads for the game to be aired later at night - rather than during time slots that kids will be watching - and thinks that Lotto chiefs shouldn’t wait until someone wins to warn players of what’s in store.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The adverts should be aired later in the evening and advertising should be out of the way from children,” she said,</p> <p dir="ltr">“It sounds silly but children dream of either being famous or winning the lottery, and if it wasn’t so glamorised maybe there would be more ambition rather than gambling.</p> <p dir="ltr">“People always refer to the lottery as ‘playing the lottery’, but it’s not ‘playing’, it’s just plain gambling, apart from picking some number there is no game element to it.</p> <p dir="ltr">“How it wasn’t held to the same legislation as gambling from the beginning baffles me.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Park revealed that she is bombarded with pleas for help in the form of cash from strangers and that she’s even proposed to on a weekly basis.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It may be parents with terminally-ill children or needing life-changing surgery. Uni students want me to pay for their education,” she explained.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I also get a lot of marriage proposals, I’d say I get at least one a week. It’s not from anyone interested in me, it’s from people interested in the money.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The Edinburgh native has previously spoken about her fight to increase the age limit, which she had planned to take to court until her cause became the subject of media attention.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I was prepared to go to court to get my argument known, but the media attention it received got my point heard by the right people and I didn’t need to go that far in the end,” she explained.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I know that is directly because of the attention I brought to the subject.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Part one of my mission was to have the age range increased, part two is to try and make advertising the lottery more truthful.”</p> <p dir="ltr">She added that it’s “wrong” that the lotto is glamorised as “dream come true money”, when in reality she described it more as a “twisted fairytale” where strangers ask about her bank balance daily.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m proud that I have invested my money wisely and nine years later I’m still living a good life,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It just feels like people are waiting for the day I become broke and homeless, but I won’t let that happen.”</p> <p dir="ltr">A spokesperson for the Department of Media Culture and Sport said the law was changed so that only those over the age of 18 could take part in the National Lottery, up from the previous minimum age of 16.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The National Lottery is regulated by the Gambling Commission and we will not hesitate to act further if we consider it necessary,” they said.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ecf45aca-7fff-7df7-9cbc-ec78fdfc4615"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @janeparkx (Instagram)</em></p>

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Retiree figures out how to win the lotto

<p dir="ltr">A retired couple have beaten possibly all odds when it comes to winning the lottery thanks to “simple math”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Jerry and Marge Selbee from Evart, Michigan, are multimillionaires because of a loophole in the gambling game.</p> <p dir="ltr">After retiring in 2003, Jerry decided to follow the lotto closely and discovered that it's easier than he thought to win, saying, “Anyone could have done it.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The retiree inspected the game called WinFall and found that if no one won the jackpot of US$5 million ($7 million AUD), then the money would go to ticket holders with fewer winning numbers.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I looked at the probabilities of the game and it said that when the WinFall actually occurred and no one won the jackpot, that the prize level would go up by a factor of 10," Jerry said on <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/60-minutes/jerry-and-marge-go-large-lotto-tips-selbee-how-retired-couple-won-39-million/1e5093b5-be35-400f-a142-8ecdf0c289d0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">60 Minutes</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">"US$50 for a three-number winner and US$1,000 for a four-number winner and the odds were one in, one in 56 and a half for a three-number winner and one in 1032 for a four-number winner."</p> <p dir="ltr">Jerry went on to explain that part of the problem when it comes to playing the lotto is that people think it is structured.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I did not have to be lucky to win. I had to be unlucky to lose."</p> <p dir="ltr">Almost akin to placing a bet on himself, Jerry decided to test his theory and realised that he was right – and quickly came clean to his wife Marge who was all for it.</p> <p dir="ltr">The couple would buy hundreds of thousands of tickets for the WinFall game – but disaster eventually struck when no more tickets were sold in their hometown.</p> <p dir="ltr">Soon the pair had to drive 15 hours to Massachusetts to keep winning a similar style of lottery with the same "loophole" structure, but it was something they were both keen to do.</p> <p dir="ltr">Eventually, they were caught out by investigators but Jerry and Marge were in fact not doing anything illegal.</p> <p dir="ltr">Their story eventually became well known to the point that a film is being made for streaming service Paramount+ and will feature Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston.</p> <p dir="ltr">Despite their lifetime of winnings – in the many tens of millions over the years – Jerry and Marge remain quite humble, spending their money on education for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Nine</em></p>

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Woman's $940k theft from vet hospital to play pokies app

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A woman has pleaded guilty to stealing $940,000 from her employer, after using the funds to fuel her addiction to an online gambling game that doesn’t pay out real money.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tasmanian woman Rachel Naomi Perri appeared before Hobart’s Supreme Court on Monday facing 25 charges of computer-related fraud and one count of fraud.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Perri, 49, stole the money over the three years she worked at the Tasmanian Veterinary Hospital as an account manager.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The “anomalies” in bank transactions were only discovered after Ms Perri was made redundant.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The full extent of her theft was uncovered after a full investigation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Crown prosecutor Simone Wilson told the court that Ms Perri made 475 fraudulent transactions over the course of three years and four months, with the final amount totalling $940,221.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Wilson told the court that Ms Perri was the only person managing the hospital’s bank accounts and transferred money from the accounts to a variety of credit cards, personal loans, and other bank accounts in her name.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Police also discovered that Ms Perri had fraudulently taken out a $30,000 credit card in her husband’s name in 2015, racking up $24,000 in debt without her husband’s knowledge.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When she was interviewed by police in 2019, Ms Perri “immediately said, ‘I’m guilty’.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The court heard that Ms Perri told police she had been playing a game called Heart of Vegas for the past four years, which is where all of the money had gone.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It is similar to playing pokies and you shop to purchase coins or credits,” Ms Wilson told the court.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“[But the] credit purchased never turned into actual money. She couldn’t explain why she was playing that game when there was no return.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Heart of Vegas claims to feature “real Vegas slot machines just like the ones you know and love”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Its terms and conditions also state that players “may be required to pay a fee to obtain virtual items”, but that “virtual items may never be redeemed for ‘real world money’”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Wilson read out Ms Perri’s interview with police to the court and said she was in her “own little world” while playing.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I got myself into so much trouble but decided I’d keep going until [I] got caught,” she </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-23/woman-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-940k-from-her-workplace/100639450" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the record of the interview.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I knew I couldn’t get away with it. I was waiting for a knock on the door from police.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Greg Barns, Ms Perri’s lawyer, told the court that the accused had a “lengthy history of gambling” that started when she turned 18 in Launceston.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“She began to use poker machines and she won $26 from placing a dollar into a machine and, as she described it, it went from there,” he told the court.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Grant said his client had moved from Launceston to Hobart for a fresh start, but began gambling 2008-09.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“She described spending consecutive hours on poker machines,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“One session she spent 16 hours continuously playing on the machine.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When Ms Perri discovered Heart of Vegas, Mr Barns said she became so addicted that she would keep spending money just to “keep playing the game”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“She got so addicted that she’d play it first thing in the morning,” he told the court.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“She would set it up at night so it played in auto.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Perri was diagnosed as having a severe gambling disorder by forensic psychiatrist Dr Michael Jordan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“He considered that Perri’s gambling disorder was the most significant factor in her fraud activity,” Mr Barns told the court.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“[Her gambling was mindless, with no hope of any financial gain.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Barns told the court that Ms Perri voluntarily entered therapy and would need to continue once she was in prison.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He said it was unlikely that his client would be able to pay back the veterinary services, after they instituted civil proceedings to recover the money.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Wilson said the accused’s behaviour was “planned” and “calculated”, and that she only stopped because she was made redundant.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The prospects of her recovering are slim to non-existent,” she told the court.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Perri has been remanded in custody until she is sentenced next month.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Getty Images</span></em></p>

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Gaming or gambling: study shows almost half of loot boxes in video games constitute gambling

<div class="copy"> <p>The Australian Senate has <a href="http://trade-media.com.au/news/read/australian-senate-passes-motion-investigate-loot-boxes/">passed a motion to investigate</a> whether purchasable random rewards in video games (known colloquially as loot boxes) constitute a form of gambling and whether they are appropriate for younger players.  </p> <p>Our recent <a href="https://rdcu.be/ZXTg">paper</a>, which was cited in the senate motion, explores exactly these questions.</p> <p>We found that the loot boxes in almost half (45%) of the 22 games we analysed met the criteria to be considered psychologically similar to gambling, even though they are rated as appropriate for adolescent players under the age of consent for gambling.</p> <h2>What is a loot box?</h2> <p>Loot boxes are digital containers of randomised rewards, and are available in a number of video games.</p> <p>The box may contain rewards ranging from cosmetic items which alter the appearance of in-game characters to functional items that increase the player’s power in some way (for example a gun that fires faster or does more damage).</p> <p>In our research, we sought to answer two questions: are loot boxes like gambling and, if so, what should be done about it?</p> <p>First up, we want to clarify that video games are not evil.</p> <p>Games companies are not evil. Making money from video games is not evil.</p> <p>And playing video games with loot boxes is unlikely to result in young people flocking in great numbers to casinos.</p> <p>However, simultaneously, it may also be true that loot boxes represent a troubling and potentially inappropriate monetisation strategy, with the potential to cause short and long-term harm to some players.</p> <p>Our intent is to educate readers about loot box mechanisms, and promote a reasoned, evidence-based discussion about ethical practice in video games.</p> <p>Loot box rewards may be highly desirable or valuable (for example, a particularly valuable cosmetic item or very powerful weapon), or virtually useless and undesirable (items referred to as “vender trash”).</p> <p>Most importantly, the contents of the box are determined by chance.</p> <p>Some (but not all) loot boxes are purchasable for real money.</p> <p>In some cases, items earned from a loot box can also be “cashed out” for real world money.</p> <h2>The gambling problem</h2> <p>The problem is that spending real money on a chance outcome that results in some people “winning” and others “losing” is fundamental to gambling activities.</p> <p>Thus, we analysed the loot box features in 22 console and PC games released in 2016 and 2017, with a view to understanding how psychologically similar they were to gambling.</p> <p>We used five criteria to distinguish gambling from other risk-taking activities.</p> <p>These have been developed by Nottingham Trent University psychologist <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/social-sciences/mark-griffiths">Mark Griffiths</a> in his work on behavioural addictions and gambling disorders.</p> <p>To be considered psychologically similar to gambling, loot boxes must involve:</p> <ul> <li>an exchange of money or valuable goods takes place</li> <li>an unknown future event determines the exchange</li> <li>chance at least partly determining the outcome</li> <li>non-participation avoiding incurring losses</li> <li>winners gaining at the sole expense of losers.</li> </ul> <p>We took a reasonably strict interpretation of the final criterion; assuming that people only “won” if they gained some form of in-game competitive advantage (for example more powerful weapons).</p> <p>Arguably, this approach ignores the subjective value that might be created by the scarcity of, or player preference for, certain cosmetic items.</p> <p>However, it appeared to us to most closely resemble Griffiths’ intent.</p> <p>Loot boxes in just under half of the games (45%) met all five of Griffiths’ criteria and, thus, could be considered psychologically akin to gambling.</p> <p>All of the loot boxes operated on a variable ratio reinforcement schedule – a technical term for a reward given to a person on average every so many times they engage in a particular behaviour.</p> <p>This type of reward schedule results in people quickly learning new behaviours (for example buying loot boxes) and repeating them often in the hope of receiving a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1990.tb00220.x">reward</a>.</p> <p>The strategy is effective because the next time a box is opened it might be the “big win”.  </p> <p>Perhaps most concerning was the fact that at least five of the games had mechanisms available to on-sell virtual items, allowing players to cash out their winnings (though four of these five had terms and conditions explicitly prohibiting this).</p> <p>The ability to cash out winnings is something that many consider a legal requirement for an activity to be considered gambling.</p> <p>Although the legality of loot boxes is a question for individual regulators and governments, exposure to mechanisms which closely mimic gambling in a psychological sense is concerning to us, especially since all of the games we examined were rated as appropriate for those under the age of consent for gambling.</p> <p>The short and long-term consequences of engaging with these mechanisms are unknown.</p> <p>Plausibly, short-term consequences may include overspending on loot boxes.</p> <p>The potential for long-term consequences also concerns us because males (a <a href="http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/EF2017_Design_FinalDigital.pdf">particularly large group within gamers</a>) exposed to gambling when young are particularly at <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10899-008-9088-6">risk of developing problematic gaming behaviours</a>.</p> <h2>What to do about it</h2> <p>There is cause for hope. Electronic Arts (one of the largest game studios in the world) has recently announced the <a href="https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/no-loot-boxes-anthem-1202838734/">removal of loot boxes</a> from upcoming titles.</p> <p>This suggests the games industry is taking consumer and expert feedback seriously, and may take steps to self-regulate.</p> <p>In our view, this is the optimal solution, given the diverse policy landscapes across the countries in which video games are sold.</p> <p>Where industry is not willing to self-regulate, and loot boxes are most similar to gambling, regulators may need to consider additional steps, although this should be undertaken selectively.</p> <p>Belgium and the Netherlands have <a href="https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-04-25-now-belgium-declares-loot-boxes-gambling-and-therefore-illegal">declared at least some loot boxes to be illegal</a>, while the US and UK have decided that they are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43906306">not a form of gambling</a>.</p> <p>As noted above, the Australian Senate unanimously supported a vote on the 28th of June to refer an inquiry into the legality of loot boxes in video games to the <a href="http://trade-media.com.au/news/read/australian-senate-passes-motion-investigate-loot-boxes/">Environment and Communications References Committee</a>.</p> <p>Most importantly, we recommend that loot box mechanics should be added to content warnings to give users and parents the information they need to properly assess whether particular games are appropriate for themselves or their children.</p> <p>Ensuring that users can make well informed decisions about the appropriateness of content remains one of the strongest consumer defences.</p> <p>We hope that this work will form the basis for a well-reasoned, evidence-based policy discussion about ethical and sustainable practices in video games.</p> <p>Our intent is not to stigmatise games or gamers, but to spark a discussion about what mechanisms are and are not appropriate for particular audiences, games and the industry more broadly.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p> </div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published by <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/social-sciences/gaming-or-gambling-study-shows-almost-half-of-loot-boxes-in-video-games-constitute-gambling/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and written by The Conversation.</em></p> </div>

Money & Banking

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What does it mean to ‘gamble responsibly’?

<p>Advertisements for gambling and online betting tell us to “gamble responsibly”. But what does this mean in reality? And how can you gamble responsibly online when another bet is just a click or swipe away?</p> <p><a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/gambling-activity-australia/1-introduction">A total of 64%</a> of Australian adults gamble at least once a year, with <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/gambling-activity-australia/2-gambling-participation">one third</a> of gamblers participating in multiple forms of gambling. <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/gambling-activity-australia/2-gambling-participation">Lottery is the most common form of gambling</a> among those who gamble regularly (76%), followed by instant scratch tickets (22%) and electronic gaming machines (or “pokies”, almost 21%).</p> <p><a href="http://www.problemgambling.net.au/ausgambling.html">Up to 160,000 Australians</a> experience significant problems from gambling, and up to a further 350,000 experience moderate risks that make them vulnerable to developing a gambling problem.</p> <p>In about the past 15 years, there’s been a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/tvepisode/online-gambling">rise in online gambling</a>. While rates of online gambling for Australians <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/gambling-activity-australia">are low</a> compared to traditional forms of gambling, participation in online gambling appears to be increasing rapidly.</p> <p><a href="https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/online-gambling-market">If this continues</a>, online gambling may soon replace traditional, in-venue gambling, particularly for young people.</p> <p><a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/gen-bet-has-gambling-gatecrashed-our-teens-16/">About one young person</a> in every 25 has a problem with gambling, which is an average of one in every high school classroom. Up to one in five bet on sports matches <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/gen-bet-has-gambling-gatecrashed-our-teens-16/">and</a> one in ten gamble online.</p> <p><strong>Young people exposed to gambling when watching sport</strong></p> <p>Advertisements for gambling and online betting are particularly common in Australian sport. While there has been a <a href="https://adstandards.com.au/issues/gambling-advertising">recent shift to regulate</a> when and how gambling is advertised during sporting matches, there is still a heavy presence.</p> <p>In fact, three in four children aged eight to 16 who watch sports <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/reducing-harm/parents/teenagers-and-gambling/">can name at least one</a> betting company.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9DnC2DF1SSM?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">The campaign ‘Love the Game, not the Odds’ aims to disrupt the idea that gambling is a normal part of sport.</span></p> <p>The public health campaign, “<a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/reducing-harm/love-the-game-program/">Love the Game, Not the Odds</a>”, was released addressing the issue of reducing the exposure of young people to sport betting.</p> <p>It aims to disrupt the notion that gambling is a normal part of sport and being a spectator. And it aims to help start and facilitate conversations with children and adolescents about gambling not needing to be an integral part of gaming.</p> <p><strong>How to ‘gamble responsibly’?</strong></p> <p>The phrase “gamble responsibly” on advertisements and websites was used for years before researchers and public health advocates looked at the types of behaviours that underpin it.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bpj46f2Z9BA?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">This video from Ladbrokes tells us to ‘gamble responsibly’, but what does this mean in practice?</span></p> <p>Responsible gambling is <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/behavioural-indicators-of-responsible-gambling-consumption-64/">defined</a> as:</p> <blockquote> <p>Exercising control and informed choice to ensure that gambling is kept within affordable limits of money and time, is enjoyable, in balance with other activities and responsibilities, and avoids gambling-related harm.</p> </blockquote> <p>Ways of achieving this <a href="https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/resources/publications/behavioural-indicators-of-responsible-gambling-consumption-64/">include</a>:</p> <ul> <li>ensuring gambling is affordable by not gambling with money needed for necessities (such as bills or food)</li> <li>ensuring gambling doesn’t dominate your leisure time, and you are engaging in other social and leisure activities</li> <li>avoiding borrowing money or using a credit card to gamble</li> <li>avoiding gambling when under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, or as a way to manage emotions when you are bored, depressed or anxious</li> <li>setting limits around how much and long you with gamble for, setting a limit on your maximum bet size, and avoiding increasing bets when winning or losing.</li> </ul> <p>Additional tips for people gambling online include:</p> <ul> <li>setting limits on how much you can gamble by only using websites with a daily limit spend</li> <li>avoiding having multiple online gambling accounts.</li> </ul> <p><strong>How do I know if I have a gambling problem?</strong></p> <p>There are clear signs when gambling moves from being a hobby to becoming a mental health concern. <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gambling-disorder/what-is-gambling-disorder">These include</a>:</p> <ul> <li>needing to gamble with increasing amounts of money to achieve the desired excitement</li> <li>feeling restless or irritable when trying to stop gambling</li> <li>trying to stop or cut back gambling unsuccessfully</li> <li>spending a lot of time thinking about gambling</li> <li>gambling when you’re feeling anxious or upset</li> <li>chasing losses (by trying to make up losses with more gambling)</li> <li>lying to others to conceal the extent of your gambling</li> <li>relying on others for money</li> <li>jeopardising relationships, job or opportunities because of gambling.</li> </ul> <p>If you are concerned about your gambling, seek professional help and exclude yourself from gambling venues and websites.</p> <p>In practice, for online gambling, this might mean disabling automatic logins and deleting accounts.</p> <p><em>If this article raises concerns for you or someone you know, gambling support is available via <a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/topics/problem-gambling">Lifeline</a> (13 11 14), or via <a href="https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/">Gambling Help Online</a>, which lists services in your <a href="https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/services-in-your-state">state or territory</a>.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130949/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anastasia-hronis-811811">Anastasia Hronis</a>, Clinical Psychologist, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-told-to-gamble-responsibly-but-what-does-that-actually-mean-130949">original article</a>.</em></p>

Mind

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Racing figure pleads guilty to $17.5m betting fraud

<p>Melbourne racing identity Bill Vlahos has admitted to defrauding punters of $17.5 million in a complex con.</p> <p>On Monday, the 54-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by pocketing $17,520,225 paid by his betting club investors between 2008 and 2013.</p> <p>According to court documents, 68 people who were caught up in the scam believed Vlahos was betting their money on thoroughbred horses on their behalf.</p> <p>However, the bets were either never placed or only a fraction of the money was laid.</p> <p>“The betting numbers attached to the betting sheets were not true or accurate and the betting and results sheets contained false information,” the court documents stated.</p> <p>In <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-30/racing-identity-bill-vlahos-pleads-guilty-to-defrauding-clients/11559556" target="_blank">one case</a> from May 2008, Vlahos claimed to have put $219,000 on a horse called Gorky Park and won $657,000, when he had in fact placed only $2,500 and gained $9,000 in return.</p> <p>The documents also described The Edge, which Vlahos opened in 2002/2003, as a “Ponzi scheme” used to “service the unrelated personal expenditure” of Vlahos and his other businesses.</p> <p>The syndicate folded in 2013 after gamblers looked to cash out. Vlahos filed for bankruptcy in the same year.</p> <p>While Vlahos initially faced 374 charges for deceiving up to 1,500 victims out of $128 million, a <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/bail-for-bill-vlahos-after-he-admits-17-5m-rip-off-but-jail-looms-20190930-p52w94.html" target="_blank">deal</a> was reached between his lawyers and prosecutors for him to plead guilty to only two charges.</p> <p>Judge Douglass Trapnell said Vlahos’ imprisonment was “inevitable” due to the serious nature of his offences.</p> <p>Vlahos’ bail was extended. He is expected to appear before court on February 4 for a pre-sentence hearing.</p>

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