Billi FitzSimons

But before we get there, here is a quick message from TDA's new news editor, Adela.

It was earlier this month.

Yeah, every time we have spoken about gambling on the podcast over the years, it always shocks me the fact that Australia has the highest gambling losses per person in the world.

So we are the worst in the world when it comes to gambling and that is why it is such a huge issue and why there has been so much pressure on the government, not just the government today but on governments in the past as well,

to act on limiting how much gambling ads there are out there.

And also what's surprising to learn is that New South Wales in particular has the worst losses per capita in Australia, which therefore means in the world.

So I have it in front of me.

So a report published by the government in 2023 says recent estimates suggest that Australians lose approximately $25 billion on legal forms of gambling every year, which represents the largest per capita losses in the world, as I said.

So I would say it's been on the agenda for a long time, for many, many years.

But it was in June 2023 that a parliamentary committee released the final report from its inquiry into the impacts of online gambling.

Yes.

I'm just sorry.

I took a deep breath to interrupt you there.

Exactly.

And so what was interesting about this committee is that it was chaired by a Labor MP, being Peter Murphy, who has since died.

But what was quite controversial, I think, is the fact that it was chaired by a Labor MP and the report made recommendations to the Labor government.

And so there was a lot of conversation about, you know,

if one of your own has made these recommendations, why are you not acting on that?

Because you would think that because it was a Labor MP you are politically aligned with what their viewpoints would be.

So that report recommended that the government completely ban ads for online gambling.