Gold Coast ‘ground zero’ for gambling normalisation among our youth

Gold Coast kids are being exposed to gambling at every turn with experts highlighting the extraordinary impact of normalising it from the TV to the surf club.

Whether it’s from the safety of their own bedroom or even sitting on the sofa right next to you, the odds are your child has been groomed.

While parents worry about the dangers of drinking, drugs and sexual predators, it’s a safe bet that many haven’t considered one of the biggest risks to their child’s wellbeing … gambling.

From ads for online betting during televised sports matches, to promotions on social media sites like TikTok and Snapchat, to the regular sight of pokie machines in family venues like surf clubs, children are being exposed to gambling like never before.

While it might seem like a long shot that your child could be losing their pocket money to the odd punt, let alone become addicted, the reality is sobering.

Recent findings from the Australia Institute showed that under-18s were losing a staggering $18.4 million a year to gambling, which ballooned to $231 million once 18 and 19-year-olds were included.

Meanwhile, the data found that almost one in three young people aged 12 to 17 have engaged in some form of gambling, while almost half of all male 18 to 19-year-old reported gambling in the past year.

In fact, if gambling was considered a sport, it would be the most popular played by teens in Australia.

Given that Australia has less than one per cent of the world’s population but 18 per cent of its poker machines and our citizens are already the world’s biggest gambling losers per capita, with annual losses totalling $25 to $31 billion, it’s truly alarming how normalised gambling has become for Gen Z.

Annual gambling losses in Australia are between $25-$31 billion..

And for Monash University Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, one of Australia’s foremost gambling researchers, the Gold Coast’s reputation as a gambling mecca makes it ground zero for this generation.

“This is like an experiment happening right before our eyes, young people in their teens and early 20s are the first generation to be exposed to the relentless advertising and marketing of gambling, as well as the incredible availability of everything from poker machines to gambling apps and online sports betting,” said Dr Livingstone.

“On the Gold Coast, not only do you have a major casino but at almost every surf club you pretty much have to walk past the pokies to dine … it’s the endless normalisation of a dangerous habit.

“Something as healthy as Nippers gets corrupted when you take your kids up for chips and they want to play on the ‘video games’.

“Then you go home to watch a football game and it’s all ads for gambling, plus this generation has been raised on gaming which itself has groomed them for gambling. It’s an incredibly dangerous combination and the earlier that gambling habits form, the worse they tend to be.

“Already something like one in 10 suicides is related to a gambling problem.”

Despite these risks and concerns, gambling barely rated a mention during this federal election campaign.

Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, Monash University School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine associate professor Charles Livingstone: “Something as healthy as Nippers gets corrupted when you take your kids up for chips and they want to play on the ‘video games’.”

But for Dr Livingstone, this came as no surprise. He said despite a 2023 parliamentary inquiry that recommended new restrictions on online gambling advertising, not one of the 31 recommendations had been implemented by the federal government.

He said this silence was due to the fear of backlash from those benefiting from gambling revenue, including wagering companies and sports leagues, but that addressing the issue did not have to be unpopular.

In fact, he said the vast majority of Australians supported taking action.

“I don’t want to ban gambling, although 80 per cent of Australians certainly support banning gambling ads,” he said.

“What I would like to see is the introduction of precommitment cards, which are considered one of the best candidates to control gambling. They require pokie users to set a limit prior to using the machines, and are now common across Europe, and have been proposed – but delayed or scuttled – in Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales.

“Queensland casinos, including The Star on the Gold Coast, will bring them in later this year, but that still leaves thousands of machines across the state in pubs and clubs unregulated.

“The point of these cards is that instead of going to play the pokies and intending to spend $20 but then getting sucked into playing all night, you have pre-committed that $20 and you cannot change it.

“That does mean that venues will take a financial hit but, particularly with surf clubs, if you’re a community not-for-profit organisation you should be happy to stop the suffering in your community.

“These clubs were established long before pokies and their greatest period of growth was before gambling so they can survive. If it means steaks in the bistro cost $1 more then I think that’s a reasonable trade-off.”

Mr Livingstone says Gold Coast surf clubs managed to exist prior to pokies which many now offer: “These clubs were established long before pokies and their greatest period of growth was before gambling so they can survive. If it means steaks in the bistro cost $1 more then I think that’s a reasonable trade-off.”

Dr Livingstone said young people were particularly vulnerable to gambling addictions not only because they had been groomed, but because of their economic status.

He said research showed that pokie machines were most popular in lower socio-economic areas because they provided temporary stress relief.

“Playing the pokies gives users a dopamine hit, just like a drug would, and it enables them to tune out all their problems when they are in ‘the zone’.

“For young people, they are facing huge financial pressures – housing is unaffordable, education is expensive and jobs for life have been replaced by the gig economy with little certainty. It’s a bleak future, but gambling gives that hit of happiness which becomes addictive.

“Now we’re in a situation where it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t know someone or know of someone who has been affected by gambling – and the losses are so much more than financial.

“It’s not just the person who is gambling but their families. They lose relationships, lose assets, lose their children … and their children lose a parent.

“It’s associated with enormous mental and physical health problems as well as crime and family violence. The whole of the community pays the price.

“It’s ridiculous that more than 80 per cent of Australians would like to see reforms to the gambling industry, we’ve had an inquiry into the harms and excellent recommendations … yet nothing has happened.

“We’re allowing the gambling industry to short-change us and we have to do something for the sake of the next generation.

“Gambling is to Australia like guns are to America, and we need our leaders to have the courage to make these changes.”

Originally published as Gold Coast ‘ground zero’ for gambling normalisation among our youth