Full disclosure: this columnist enjoys the occasional tiny bet. Perhaps it’s in the genes.
Losing thousands
My grandfather was an illegal bookmaker at his pub in Ballarat in the 1950s. He would bribe the local police £5 when they raided the pub to turn a blind eye to after-hours drinkers and gamblers.
His son, my father, made a successful full-time living from gambling on the horses for about decade, and bought his first house with the winnings. Yet, most gamblers aren’t so lucky. The average Australian loses more money gambling than citizens in any other country.
A Productivity Commission inquiry in 2010 concluded there was a significant social cost of gambling, estimated to be at least $4.7 billion per year. This social toll includes theft, domestic violence, the inability to pay for essentials such as food or rent, lower performance at work, job losses, relationship problems, and health impacts such as feelings of guilt, anxiety and depression.
The commission estimated there were 115,000 to 280,000 problem gamblers. Total yearly losses averaged $1500 per adult who gambled, but losses were far higher for problem gamblers.
The explosion of online gambling via smartphones since means the numbers are now much higher than in 2008-09 when the commission did the probe. A parliamentary inquiry last year estimated total gambling losses at $25 billion per year.
Monash University associate professor in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Charles Livingstone, estimates punters are losing about $500 million a year on AFL matches.
The AFL pockets a slice of every bet placed on matches, but it doesn’t disclose the total amount of money it earns from gambling.
Paying the salaries
The AFL is often a force for good in society. It champions social causes, such as gay pride, female participation in sport, celebrating the Indigenous community, supporting sick children, and campaigning against male violence against women. Supporting these worthy causes costs it virtually nothing and buys it goodwill.
Currying favour with governments is crucial to the league’s business model. For example, federal and Tasmanian taxpayers will pay about $700 million for a new stadium for a proposed 19th AFL club in Hobart.
While the league can be a force for good, its dependence on gambling undermines its social licence. There is hypocrisy in campaigning against domestic violence, while the league and clubs fill their pockets with gambling revenue that can contribute to family violence.
Gambling revenue underpins the average AFL player salary of $441,464 per year and the hefty remuneration of the executives, which reportedly was more than $2 million for McLachlan.
McLachlan’s predecessor as AFL chief executive, Andrew Demetriou, joined the board of casino operator Crown Resorts and was an adviser to online bookmaker Betr.
In response to a question from anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello at Crown’s shareholder meeting in 2019, Demetriou said, “the values of the AFL are not too dissimilar to the values of Crown”.
Sixteen months later, Crown was found not suitable to hold a Sydney casino licence, after enabling money laundering and partnering with junket operators connected to Asian triad gangs. Demetriou quit Crown in 2021, after the NSW gaming regulator called for his resignation.
It was under Demetriou at the AFL in 2006, that McLachlan cut the league’s first wagering deal with Tabcorp. The AFL signed further deals with CrownBet as its official wagering partner, and then BetEasy, which was taken over by Sportsbet.
Sportsbet’s partnership extensions were not publicly announced due to the embarrassing sensitivities of the AFL’s ties to gambling.
In contrast, the British Football Association in 2017 ended its commercial partnership with betting companies, including bookmaker Ladbrokes. The association decided there was a conflict between banning players from betting on matches, while accepting money from bookmakers and promoting betting to millions of fans.
But not everyone at the AFL and at its clubs likes the league’s cosy ties to gambling. The Sydney Swans have banned betting advertising within the stadium at their home games. Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs quit their ownership of pokies.
Flood of advertising
Regrettably, the AFL is not alone in its ties to gambling. The Victorian government expects to make $2.7 billion from gambling revenue in 2024-25, including $435 million from racing and other sports betting.
The Labor Party, Catholic Church and Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union own pokies clubs and make millions of dollars a year from problem gamblers. These organisations are supposed to represent the interests of working people.
Instead, their embrace of gambling is helping tear apart families and leaving less food on the table for children of addicted gamblers. The hypocrisy and dereliction of civic leadership is a blight on Australian society.
Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has made some modest changes to tackle problem gambling, including a ban on credit card deposits, a national self-exclusion register, and ID pre-verification for new online gambling accounts.
There is a ban on television gambling advertising during live sports play. Nevertheless, more than 1 million gambling ads aired on free-to-air TV, radio and online in the 12 months to April 2023, at a cost of $238 million, the Australian Communications and Media Authority says.
Of the metro TV ads, 51 per cent were for online gambling (sports and horse racing), 20 per cent for lotteries, and 17 per cent for lottos.
Rowland is considering the government’s response to 31 recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, including a recommendation to ban all advertising for online gambling.
“Online gambling has been deliberately and strategically marketed alongside sport, which has normalised it as a fun, harmless and sociable activity that is part of a favourite pastime,” the inquiry’s final report said.
“Gambling advertising is grooming children and young people to gamble, and encourages riskier behaviour. The torrent of advertising is inescapable.”