Full disclosure: I am not opposed to gambling, and quite like the occasional punt on the horses.

I grew up in a family who likes a punt, and on any given Saturday, if you visit my dad, the day is spent having a bet on the horse races and flicking between the footy and the racing channels.

But it has never turned into a problem, so I have no firsthand experience of out-of-control gambling.

Last week, a Senate inquiry into gambling reform uncovered all sorts of juicy details of the lengths gambling agencies had gone to induce gambling addicts to spend more money with them.

For context, Australia has the highest rate of gambling losses per capita in the world, losing close to $32-billion a year.

The inquiry examined a Federal Government Bill that proposes to limit the ways gambling can be advertised.

Throughout the hearings, witnesses described how gambling companies allegedly offered problem gamblers inducements including drugs and escorts to keep them betting.

Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Reverend Tim Costello appeared at the hearing, and told a story about a young man he said received funding for travel, escorts and drugs from Sportsbet and TAB.

That man is now in prison after being charged over the alleged theft of $12.3-million in order to pay his gambling debts.

Former NRL player Luke Bateman told his story of having a gambling addiction as a 23-year-old when an unnamed gambling agency paid for him to attend VIP events around Australia, where he was offered drugs by the agency’s VIP managers and bosses.

Sportsbet and TAB representatives at the hearing denied the allegations.

The gambling agencies came under fire, mostly from Senators Sarah Hanson-Young and David Pocock, who took their representatives to task over several issues – one of which was the use of children in gambling advertisements.

But it wasn’t just the gambling agencies questioned, Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, appeared before the inquiry where officials struggled to answer questions about how the legislation would be implemented if it passed Parliament.

Many MPs believe Labor’s proposal of gambling advertisement reforms do not go far enough, and with the Bill to be debated in the next fortnight, there are sure to be more tense exchanges.

Another interesting aspect has been which media has covered the Senate inquiry and in what way. 

Perhaps those with commercial arrangements with the gambling agencies has been a factor in not covering the issue?

While others have covered it in a way to call out Bateman for failing to declare a previous role as a bookmaker’s account manager. Really, Herald-Sun? I think you have entirely missed the point.

The really concerning aspect of all of this is the targeting of the most vulnerable, and children.

For a while now, I have followed an Instagram account – called prune_masters – originally for his funny football content, but in the past 12 months Damian Hopper has been on a mission to highlight the issues with gambling, and namely with the AFL’s several conflict of interests.

He is regularly sent messages and emails which he shares from everyday people who have either been a gambling addict and how they were relentlessly targeted by the agencies with inducements to return to betting, or from family members of gambling addicts outlining what they have lost – financially, emotionally and sometimes physically.

The suicide rate among gambling addicts is no doubt of the most concern. 

The other major concern is the growing problem of people under 18 – mostly teenage boys – who are being influenced to take up gambling. 

While gambling is not illegal – with registered agencies anyway – targeting those with an indication is morally and ethically questionable, at best.  

The betting agencies make millions each year – surely they don’t have to prey on the vulnerable to suck a few more thousand, or million, dollars out of them.

While the advertising of gambling is one part of the proposed Bill that of course needs to be regulated, the inducement practices of the industry are of equal concern and there needs to be better monitoring of the agencies and their practices.

People needing support can call Gambling Help Australia – 1800 858 858; Lifeline – 13 11 14; or Beyond Blue – 1300 22 4636.

The entire August 12, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!