'Alarming': One In 3 Aussie Children Gambling
About one in 3 Aussie kids are rolling the dice on their futures, losing more than $18 million to gambling each year.
The current findings launched by think tank the Australia Institute show 30 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds gamble, with the figure spiralling to almost half of 18 to 19-year-olds.
That's 600,000 teens gambling each year.
Gambling reform supporters say it's the result of a deliberate effort by the gambling market to groom children to gamble from a very young age.
"There is evidence that the gaming market targets kids as young as 14 years of ages through social networks, urging them to download betting ads, and the saturation of gambling advertisements around our major football codes is also tempting kids to bet," Alliance for Gambling Reform primary executive Martin Thomas said.
"It is both disconcerting and terrible to understand that the number of teens gambling under the legal age would fill the MCG six times over."
The alliance is contacting all candidates in the upcoming federal election to commit to the suggestions made following the Murphy questions into online gaming, chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.
The inquiry's 2023 report found a "torrent" of advertising and simulated betting through computer game was grooming kids to bet and motivating riskier behaviour.
It recommended a total phase-out of all gambling marketing over three years.
Despite the evaluation being unanimously backed across parliament without any dissenting remarks, Labor has dragged its feet on gambling reform in spite of increasing pressure to advertisements.
Australians currently acquire the world's highest betting losses, positioning $244.3 billion in bets every year.
Rates of gambling have actually increased given that 2019 and typical annual losses increased from almost $2000 per person to about $2500, according to the Australian Institute report.
The country's overall gaming losses at $31.5 billion rivals the whole Northern Territory economy and is higher than the $21 billion lost to betting in all of Las Vegas, the report added.