Know your losses before gambling: Aussie MP proposes major reform
Online gambling has become a significant issue in Australia, with billions of dollars lost annually. A bipartisan parliamentary committee, led by the late Peta Murphy, recommended a complete ban on online gambling advertising, but no action was taken. Now Independent MP for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie’s (pictured above) aims to provide a different solution—mandatory real-time loss tracking for players.
Australians lose more than A$25 billion (£15.6 billion) a year on legal gambling. About 80 percent of Australians gamble, with 38 percent doing so at least once a week. These staggering numbers highlight the extent of the problem, particularly affecting low-income households.
The proposed gambling reform bill
The bill aims to require online betting platforms to display real-time data on how much a player has lost over time. This level of transparency is intended to help gamblers see the reality of their losses, potentially altering their behaviour.
Sharkie said, “This would cost the government very little to police, but it would save lives. Right now, young people across Australia are losing thousands of dollars and they can’t see a way out. This would help them see exactly how much they’re losing.”
Businessman Jake Minear originally proposed the idea. His argument is simple: no one would accept a bank account that doesn’t display their balance, so why should online sportsbooks hide net losses?
The bill mandates that gambling platforms must always show users their losses (and wins) for the current month, the current year, and from the time the bill becomes law. Initially, Minear wanted the tracking to start from when the customer first began betting on the site, but this would make the bill retroactive, which is impractical and legally complicated.
Gambling becomes the fourth plague of Australian Sport
Just as sports were once plagued by tobacco and alcohol sponsorships, gambling has now taken over. Major sports leagues like the AFL, NRL, and NBL frequently promote betting odds, further normalising gambling. Messages like “You win some, you lose more” aim to warn players, but they are ineffective without stronger restrictions. The proposed bill could be a more direct way to show gamblers the reality of their losses.
Psychologically, the visibility of actual losses should discourage over-gambling. Making losses palpable might change players’ behaviours. The companies that operate the 바카라s will likely object to these reforms; furthermore, there could be legal opposition to the bill if it becomes law.
The federal government’s response
Rather than banning gambling ads on TV, radio, newspapers, and the internet, the Labour government decided to limit ads online and on TV during children’s programmes and sporting events. Critics accuse the government of catering to gambling and media interests at the cost of public health.
