Aussies rack up world's biggest gambling losses

Australians rack up the world's biggest gambling losses and our suburbs are home to more pokies than ATMs or post boxes. That's according to a Grattan Institute report which called for major reforms including a ban on all wagering advertising, reducing the number of pokies and mandatory pre-commitment systems. It found one in three Australians gambled regularly and the nation lost the most money on a per capita basis, up to about $1635 per person per year. That's double the average losses for people in the United States, estimated to be $A809, and more than triple the average $A584 loss of gamblers in New Zealand. It found online betting had "surged" particularly among young men, with industry advertising described as a "major culprit" in the normalisation of gambling. "Australia has taken a lax approach to gambling, and it shows," the report stated. "Gambling is big business, and the industry has repeatedly used its political power to thwart efforts to better protect the public." Some 93 per cent of the nation's 185,000 pokies were located outside casinos, the report said, claiming they were "pockmarked" across suburbs and towns. The authors called for a raft of changes including a total ban on gambling advertising or inducements, maximum loss limits, better support systems, reducing the number of pokies in all jurisdictions and a national pre-commitment scheme.The government is considering a partial ban on gambling advertising, after acknowledging the status quo cannot continue.Free-to-air broadcasters have concerns about a significant loss of revenue and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously warned of unintended consequences of a total ban. The report noted about half of the gambling losses were on poker machines, with about 50 per cent of the nation's pokies in NSW. NSW Premier Chris Minns said he acknowledged the link between the high number of poker machines and the large losses but added gambling reform was difficult. "It's an issue, but we didn't introduce ... 80,000 poker machines overnight," Mr Minns told reporters on Thursday. "It's happened over a long period of time and we're in the process of trying to mitigate the losses to NSW residents." Labor has launched a trial of cashless gaming in a small number of venues, stopping short of a pre-election pledge from the former state coalition government to mandate the technology on all machines.