Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from the local news teams of the ACM network, which stretches into every state and territory. Today's is written by The Courier journalist Gwen Liu.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Scrolling on his phone, Matt Martin finds himself easily drawn in by advertisements. Increasingly, those ads are encouraging him to gamble.
"This seems like a good promotion. I am going to try it," the 25-year-old says.
Almost one third of adults have gambled online, according to the latest Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) data.
Social media platforms, as promotional tools for gambling providers, are using algorithms to tailor cues like sports for men and celebrities for women, encouraging different groups to gamble online.
The government has faced pressure, including from within its own party, for its hesitancy to completely ban gambling ads.
Although no legislation has been announced, the government is reportedly considering a model to ban gambling ads around children's programming and live sport events, and cap them at two per hour in other time slots.
Rise of the betting influencers
Mr Martin's weekend routine is to write down different odds of AFL players in the morning and decide who to bet on before the game, he says.
He got into sports betting when he was 18 or 19 years old under the influence of his family.
Mr Martin's father often shares his bets on social media and has got "quite a bit of following" , he says.
"He is a bit of a sports betting influencer - everybody likes to copy his bets."
Social media leading young women to gambling
Public health researcher Hannah Pitt from Deakin University has been working on the impact of gambling marketing on young people for the past decade.
Dr Pitt says as well as advertisements, gambling agencies use a number of tactics to target young women in particular, including celebrities endorsements and influencer promotional posts.
"What song will Rihanna sing at the Super Bowl halftime? [What is] the first song for the Taylor Swift Eras concert - all these things now are kind of much more for females," Dr Pitt says.
Females were more likely than males to gamble online via lottery, pokies and slots and instant scratch tickets, according to a report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Dr Pitt says the novelty market draws young people in - they download a gambling app, place their first bet, and then they're hooked.
"The increase in accessibility of gambling has become a significant problem, especially for young people who are used to being on their phones," she says.
The University of Sydney's 2023 research shows YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok and Snapchat are the most popular social media platforms among young people.
Almost nine in 10 young people are using YouTube and 76 per cent of teenagers have Instagram accounts, according to the research.
Online, gambling is 24/7
Nielsen Ad Intel shows gambling outfits have spent more than $216,806,000 on advertising across Australia since June 2023.
The top five highest spenders are all online gambling companies, according to Nielsen.
Dr Pitt says the main driver for young people's gambling is no longer family influence but marketing.
"When constantly seeing these positive messages about gambling, they perceive that it's something that they should try," she says.
Australians are the biggest losers of gambling in the world per capita.
- Hannah Pitt
"Online gambling, particularly through sports betting and horse racing, is on the increase," Dr Pitt says.
"We're seeing more and more people gambling more regularly on sports and losing more money on sports betting.
"One of the reasons is the change in the gambling environment; we have 24-hour access to these gambling products on our phones."
'A rite of passage'
Child and Family Services (Cafs) engagement officer Jo Smith runs an education program about gambling - Be Ahead of the Game - to Ballarat students in Victoria. She says one in three young people have gambled before.
"When I go out to the schools they can straight off the bat name three different types of agencies, even tell you what the agency is by the colours of the logo," Ms Smith says.
"It's terrifying how much they know. And it's so normalised."
They actually see it as a rite of passage.
- Jo Smith
Ms Smith says many young children are exposed to gambling in kids' games through simulated poker machines and loot boxes to offer randomised virtual items.
"On average, a young person buys about $50 worth of loot boxes per month, which is really alarming," Ms Smith says.
Placing bets, stealing at age seven
Fred Rubinstein's first taste of sports betting was at age nine and by 14 he was gambling regularly.
"It really got bad when I turned 18 - I got access to a massive inheritance," he says. "I was at the casino all night, every night."
"I lost the whole $245,000 across the whole year - I was obsessed with winning."
That experience left him with a deep fear of shame.
Now a member of the Lived Experience Advisory Committee, he is in his seventh year of not gambling.
"One of the hardest challenges was accepting that I couldn't win in that space and 99.99 per cent of gamblers can't win," he says.
As a teacher's aide, Mr Rubinstein says he met a seven-year-old child who stole $800 from their grandmother's card to purchase equivalent coins for an online game.
"Imagine that kid at 17 with a poker machine if they don't get early intervention support. It is horrendous," he says.
The federal government's Longitudinal Study of Australian Children follows the development of 10,000 Australian children and families.
It finds youth participation in gambling increased from 15.8 per cent in the 16- to 17-year-old age bracket to 45.7 per cent two years later.
'Gambling is very political'
Waiting for the federal government's response to the recommendation of banning online gambling, Dr Pitt says "gambling is very political".
"There's huge community support for restrictions to gambling marketing, gambling availability and accessibility. However, we find that still isn't enough for governments to take action".
Governments get taxes from gambling products, the sporting codes receive money through advertising as well as a proportion of each bet placed - and sports broadcasters are "very reliant on" gambling marketing money, Dr Pitt says.
Government minister Bill Shorten recently tells the National Press Club the concerns that the complete gambling ads ban on television networks could destroy their important revenue stream.
It would risk leaving a vacuum to be filled by social media and less reliable sources of news, he says.
Dr Pitt says one young man told her they felt "the government is putting profits over public health and well being".
"We're not saying that gambling should be banned, but it's really these marketing messages that we're being inundated with that we think needs to be restricted".
Gwen's story
I am shocked after analysing the player loss data from the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission.
In Ballarat, a regional city in Victoria, gamblers lost more than $170,000 a day in the last financial year.
The median household income here was $74,308 a year, according to the ABS's latest census data from 2021.
The traceable data from gaming venues highlights the alarming prevalence of gambling culture in Australia.
What about online gambling?
With the help of social media algorithms, are these online gambling ads targeting individuals anywhere and anytime, regardless of their age?
I suddenly have an uneasy feeling and decide to find the answers.
