One of the biggest topics of debate in Australian politics this week has been gambling advertisements – some are pushing for a blanket ban, while others favour a lighter approach.
Gambling, while a legal activity in Australia, can be extremely problematic: almost three quarters of the Australian adult population have engaged in gambling products in the past 12 months, and the Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing estimate around $25 billion is lost each year to gambling. This is the largest gambling loss per capita in the world.
What’s more, it can lead to anti-social behaviour, addiction problems, and even family, domestic and sexual violence.
Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine, CEO of Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, said addressing the problems associated with gambling will also help address family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia.
“While gambling itself doesn’t directly cause intimate partner violence, our research indicates gambling can fuel a dangerous cycle where financial hardship and emotional turmoil invade family life, jeopardising safety and stability within a home,” Dr Boyd-Caine told Women’s Agenda.
“Gambling is one factor within a broader context where violence can occur. Intimate partner violence results from multiple, interconnected factors, with gambling being just one part of the picture”
What is the government debating?
It’s a major topic of debate this week in Parliament, with several MPs fighting for a blanket ban on gambling ads, originally proposed by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.
When asked by Independent Member for Goldstein Zoe Daniel on whether Labor will “honor Peta’s legacy”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government is “working through” the issues surrounding restrictions on gambling advertisement.
“We are working through these issues and the government has made it very clear that the status quo regarding the saturation of gambling advertising, particularly where children are exposed to it, is untenable,” Albanese told the House of Representatives during Question Time yesterday.
“The Minister for Communications and the Minister for Social Services are getting on with tackling gambling harm comprehensively, and we’re doing that in a way that will ensure there aren’t unintended consequences.
“We’re taking a comprehensive approach, recognising this is a complex issue.”
The issue was also raised last night on ABC’s Q+A and discussed by the panel, including Liberal Senator Jane Hume, Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie and Labor Minister Bill Shorten.
While Senator Lambie accused the government of having no courage to “stand up against” gambling companies to impose a blanket ban, Minister Shorten said he was “not convinced that complete prohibition works” and raised the issue of media companies relying on advertisement.
“Free-to-air media is under massive attack by Facebook,” Minister Shorten said on Q+A last night.
“It’s been completely disrupted by the Internet, and we’ve got ourselves in this wicked situation, where now some of the free-to-air media need gambling ad revenue at any time in order just to stay afloat.”
The NDIS and Government Services Minister also said the government is committed to doing “better” than what has been proposed by the Opposition: that is, a ban on gambling ads one hour before, during, and one hour after sports broadcasting. Minister Shorten said there is “no reason why gambling ads should be on when there’s kids’ shows on”, indicating Labor would propose a ban on advertisement during programs targeted at children.
In a social media post this morning, Independent MP Zoe Daniel said Bill Shorten has “got it wrong”.
“I love sport, and I also value the media,” Daniel said, “but our first responsibility is to protect people, especially our children, from the avalanche of gambling ads – not to protect the gambling and the media companies, and the sporting codes.
“If we need to talk about the profitability of the media companies and supporting journalism, let’s have that conversation. But they can’t continue to profit from gambling ads that are causing untold harm to our communities, and creating a new generation of gamblers.
“No more excuses Bill: it’s time to show some courage and to stand up to these powerful interests and to do what Australians want, what our communities want, and that is to ban all gambling ads now.”
Many Labor MPs, including Mike Freelander and Maria Vamvakinou, have spoken to the media in support of a total ban on gambling ads, placing pressure on the Prime Minister to have a stronger stance on the restrictions of gambling advertisement.
Does gambling exacerbate violence against women?
Experts say gambling is not a driver of violence against women, however, a gambling addiction is a reinforcing factor of the perpetration of family, domestic and sexual violence.
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) conducted research in 2020 to understand the relationship between gambling and intimate partner violence.
Women interviewed as part of the study told the researchers their male partner’s obsession with gambling intensified “self-centred tendencies”, meaning the family’s welfare and his partner’s safety came second to his gambling addiction.
Any anger and frustration over losses in gambling were often directed at female partners, who were blamed for the losses, the women said in the study. The more their male partners would gamble, the more severe the violence would become, they said.
Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine from ANROWS said physical, emotional and financial violence can increase as a result of gambling addictions in an intimate partner relationship.
“Financial hardship and emotional distress resulting from gambling problems can deeply affect family dynamics, heightening the risk and severity of intimate partner violence,” Dr Boyd-Caine said.
“When one partner in a relationship is struggling with a gambling problem and controls the family finances, the risk of economic abuse soars. This dynamic can turn financial control into a weapon, leaving the other partner trapped in a cycle of financial hardship and emotional distress.”
The relationship between gambling and violence against women worked in different ways as well. For example, women who are victim-survivors of abuse told the ANROWS researchers they would use gambling as an escape from violence perpetrated from their partner.
“For many women, gambling venues can also become unintended safe spaces, often because there are few other alternatives,” Dr Boyd-Caine said. “This highlights a critical gap in available resources and support.”
The researchers also found men would use their female partner’s gambling addiction as a justification to perpetrate violence.
The ANROWS study made several recommendations for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies for intimate partner violence when it comes to gambling.
In terms of primary prevention: greater community education, state and federal government gambling awareness messaging in media, and stronger restrictions from financial institutions were among the recommendations.
Since being elected into government, Labor have banned the use of credit cards for online gambling, and also replaced the simple “Gamble responsibly” messaging on advertisements with longer, more detailed taglines warning people of the dangers of gambling, among other measures.
Dr Boyd-Caine said that banning gambling advertisements needs to be part of a broader reckoning of gambling habits and problems that are “deeply entrenched” in Australian culture and society.
“While banning gambling advertisements might reduce social pressure or normalisation, gambling is deeply entrenched in the lives of many individuals, often persisting across years or even generations,” Dr Boyd-Caine said.
“Screening for gambling problems and intimate partner violence remains limited, as does the integration of services to address them. We must improve these areas support services to address these intertwined issues effectively.”