Australia told to address gambling policy flaws

Australia told to address gambling policy flaws

Summary

The Australian Gambling Research Centre (AGRC) has released the National Gambling Prevalence Study Pilot (2024), warning that existing gambling policy is failing to limit harm and calling for a public-health approach. The report finds Australians lose an estimated $32 billion a year to legal gambling and that participation and harm have increased since 2019.

Key findings include a rise in overall participation (65.1% of adults gambled in the past year vs 56.9% in 2019), growing use of higher-risk products (poker machines, race and sports betting), and 15% of adults now assessed as at risk of gambling-related harm. The AGRC urges better-targeted protections, routine national prevalence monitoring and policy reform grounded in health evidence rather than fragmented, revenue-driven regulation.

Key Points

1. Australians lose around $32 billion annually to legal gambling — described as the highest per-capita losses globally.
2. Gambling participation rose to 65.1% of adults in 2024 (from 56.9% in 2019); lotteries remain common but riskier products are growing.
3. Product use: poker machines 19.8%, race betting 17.8%, sports betting 12.5%.
4. About 15% of adults are at some level of risk: 7.6% low risk, 4.8% moderate risk, 2.6% high risk (~550,000 people).
5. High-risk gamblers face severe harms: 66% reported financial hardship; 68% reported a cognitive, behavioural or mental health condition; suicidal ideation nearly four times higher than non-risk gamblers.
6. Gambling links to family and social harms — nearly 19% of people with partners who gamble weekly reported intimate partner violence vs 6.8% where the partner did not gamble.
7. Vulnerable groups highlighted: 18–24-year-olds show the highest share of high-risk regular gamblers; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults face almost double the risk (27.1% vs 14.6%).
8. The AGRC recommends repositioning gambling within a public-health framework and instituting routine national prevalence studies to guide evidence-based policy.

Context and relevance

The report arrives amid rising public concern — 77% of Australians say there are too many opportunities to gamble and nearly 60% want gambling discouraged. It directly challenges the status quo where state gambling taxes create regulatory conflicts of interest and where previous political pledges (including recommendations from the 2023 Peta Murphy parliamentary inquiry) remain partially unimplemented. The AGRC frames gambling as a social and health problem that intersects with mental health, financial stress and domestic violence.

Why should I read this

Short version: gambling harm is up, the system is creaking, and this study lays out the facts you need without the spin. If you care about public health, community costs or the direction of regulation (and frankly, if you vote), this is one to skim — we did the heavy lifting for you.

Author style

Punchy. This is not headline-grabbing fluff — the AGRC data is a clear, evidence-backed prod for reform. The picture painted is urgent: policymakers who ignore it risk rising social costs and political fallout.

Source

Source: https://igamingexpert.com/regions/asia/australia-pg-report-2025/