Australia risks losing a whole generation of kids to gambling, as criticisms are levelled at the government for failing to implement reforms from a landmark report two years on.
The "You win some, you lose more" parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and its impacts, chaired by fierce gambling reform advocate the late Peta Murphy MP, delivered 31 recommendations in 2023.
The unanimously supported proposals focused on reducing harm, protecting children and applying a long-overdue public health approach to gambling in this country.
But two years to the day, gambling reform advocates, health bodies and church groups say the federal government have been silent.
More than 80 per cent of Australians want a gambling advertisement ban, and parents are sick of turning on the TV only to find their 10-year-olds discussing the game in terms of odds, Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said.
"Smoking is legal, but kids shouldn't be seeing it. Same with gambling. People can gamble, but there's grooming of kids," Rev Costello told AAP.
"We now have, with the two-year implementation (delay), a whole generation of kids who only think of NRL and AFL in terms of odds."
Gambling harms lead to suicides, one-in-four 18-to-24-year-old young men are addicted, 600,000 underage Australians gambled last year, and domestic violence spikes threefold if there is gambling in a family, Rev Costello said.
"This industry has been treated as having a normal social license when it's actually pushing very addictive products," he said.
"We have literally given our kids over to sports betting companies as fodder for their profits."
Vested interests, including the AFL and NRL, sports betting companies, and the commercial broadcasting networks, had stalled reforms, Rev Costello said.
The nation's peak body for doctors, the Australian Medical Association, is demanding the government immediately action all 31 recommendations, accusing it of exposing millions of Australians to predatory betting companies.
"Every day of delay means more Australians fall victim to an industry that profits from harm and despair," AMA President Danielle McMullen said.
Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron expressed deep disappointment in the government's failure to act on a bipartisan road map to tackle gambling harm. "Two years on, the silence from Canberra is deafening," Rev Cameron said.
"While the government hesitates, lives are being torn apart."
The three say the government must use their parliamentary mandate to make systematic reforms, including banning gambling ads, implementing a national regulator and treating gambling as a health issue.
A spokesman for Communications Minister Anika Wells said she has had several meetings with harm reduction advocates, broadcasters and sporting codes.
He said the government had delivered "some of the most significant gambling harm reduction measures in Australian history", pointing to mandatory ID verification and banning credit cards for online gambling and launching BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register.
Australians top the list for the world's highest gambling losses, placing $244.3 billion in bets every year.
National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491
