'Alarming': One In Three 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 most recent findings launched by think tank the Australia Institute show 30 percent of 12 to 17-year-olds gamble, with the figure spiralling to nearly half of 18 to 19-year-olds.


That's 600,000 teenagers gambling each year.


Gambling reform supporters say it's the result of a deliberate attempt by the betting industry to groom kids to bet from an young age.


"There is proof that the gambling market targets kids as young as 14 years old through social networks, urging them to download betting advertisements, and the saturation of gambling ads around our significant football codes is also enticing kids to bet," Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive Martin Thomas said.


"It is both worrying and terrible to comprehend that the number of teenagers gambling under the legal age would fill the MCG 6 times over."


The alliance is calling on all candidates in the upcoming federal election to dedicate to the suggestions made following the Murphy inquiry into online betting, chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.


The inquiry's 2023 report found a "torrent" of advertising and simulated gambling through computer game was grooming kids to bet and encouraging riskier behaviour.


It advised a total phase-out of all betting marketing over 3 years.


Despite the evaluation being unanimously backed across parliament without any dissenting remarks, Labor has dragged its feet on betting reform in spite of increasing pressure to ban betting advertisements.


Australians already rack up the world's greatest gambling losses, positioning $244.3 billion in bets every year.


Rates of betting have actually increased because 2019 and typical yearly losses increased from almost $2000 per person to about $2500, according to the Australian Institute report.


The country's total gambling losses at $31.5 billion competitors the whole Northern Territory economy and is higher than the $21 billion lost to betting in all of Las Vegas, the report added.