During the past year, the Australian Government has been in a tight spot with expectations to respond to a parliamentary committee inquiry into a total gambling advertising ban. According to health experts, legislators must act firmly and not hesitate to impose a comprehensive prohibition, as public health and well-being must be prioritised over media revenue.
Australian online media outlet InSight+ talked to Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, Head of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He stated that a partial ban on gambling and betting ads would expose public health to excessive risk. While the Associate Professor shared his awareness of the financial hardships the broadcast industry would have to overcome, he also stressed that the new generation of young Australians would “end up, bearing, in many cases, extraordinarily heavy costs.”
Gambling’s impacts are multifaceted, with repercussions on mental and physical health, finance, and relationships, Associate Professor Livingstone further explained. Besides aggravating mental health issues, he pointed to an escalating amount of evidence about “cardiovascular problems, including coronary heart disease and other circulatory problems,” associated with problem gambling.
Financial difficulties are another aspect that must not be underestimated, Mr Livingstone said. Household finances can be badly affected as a consequence of one’s uncontrollable addiction. Problem gambling is associated with neglect of children, which can be financial, and even worse, “emotional neglect and a lack of attention to children’s needs.”
According to a recent report, released in August 2024, gambling is also associated with domestic, family, and sexual violence (DFSV). Unlocking the Prevention Potential: Accelerating action to end domestic, family, and sexual violence, recommended, among other things, that a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising is one of the necessary prevention approaches. The National Cabinet is expected to consider the recommendations and subject them to discussions.
Health Experts Call for Overall Stronger Regulations
Insight+ also spoke to Angela Rintoul, Associate Professor at Federation University, with years of expertise in the field of gambling harm reduction. She explained that gambling addicts found it very hard to quit gambling, which could be due to reasons “happening at a neurochemical level” that scientists were still not aware of.
The findings of a study, conducted by Associate Professor Rintoul and her colleagues point to 4.2% of suicides in Victoria being linked to gambling. Furthermore, various studies found that problem gambling affects at least six individuals closely related to the one who is addicted.
Among the recommendations of Associate Professor Rintoul were stronger regulations and access to customer data. Regulators must be given access to individual account data. Thus, they would be able to prevent excessive gambling and impose penalties where operators have neglected their codes of conduct.
Associate Professor Livingstone concluded that a comprehensive ban on gambling advertisements must be implemented. According to him, partial restrictions would lead to the normalisation of gambling among young children and potentially expose them to risk later in life.
- Author
Daniel Williams
