AUSTRALIANS lost more than $1200 each through gambling last year, according to fresh figures.
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We know that behind the averages, many of those who lose the most can least afford it.
These are shocking numbers, laying bare the extent of social harm done by gambling.
The data from Australian Gambling Statistics reveals Australian punters lost almost $23 billion last year.
While there has been an explosion in sports betting, up 30 per cent, by far the biggest cause of gambling losses is poker machines, which alone are responsible for $11.6 billion down the drain.
This, as public health expert Dr Charles Livingstone says, is the "600-pound gorilla of Australian gambling".
More than 75 per cent of those directly experiencing harm from gambling use poker machines. It is in this sector that gaming reform advocates such as Tim Costello, Senator Nick Xenophon and MP Andrew Wilkie have long called for reforms including $1 maximum bets and mandatory pre-commitment on poker machines.
Banning the practice of credit betting – gambling with money that you don't even have – has recently been added to this list.
Just as the amounts of money lost to gambling have grown rapidly in recent years, so too has our understanding of this behaviour.
We know now that many who gamble are addicts and that gambling irresponsibly has a drastic impact on not just the punter, but also the wider community, in particular their families and friends.
Sports betting has rapidly drawn a younger cohort to gambling.
Anyone with a smart phone can bet anywhere, any time, and the many different ways to bet on sporting fixtures is dizzying. All of this is also aggressively marketed.
Calls for reforms are not wowserism or the thin edge of the wedge towards banning gambling outright. There is a desperate need to combat this problem.
Xenophon is committed to reintroducing his proposed gaming legislation, which will include limiting advertising and banning credit betting.
The financial losses and social harm caused by problem gambling are undeniable – and are fuelled by addiction, not healthy social behaviour.
While governments continue to benefit so directly from pokies, they leave themselves open to charges that self-interest is behind their lack of will to act.