'Alarming': One In 3 Aussie Children Gambling

About one in three Aussie kids are rolling the dice on their futures, losing more than $18 million to betting each year.


The current findings released by think tank the Australia Institute reveal 30 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds gamble, with the figure spiralling to practically half of 18 to 19-year-olds.


That's 600,000 teens gambling each year.


Gambling reform advocates say it's the outcome of an intentional attempt by the gambling industry to groom children to bet from an extremely young age.


"There is evidence that the gambling market targets kids as young as 14 years of ages through social media, urging them to download betting ads, and the saturation of betting ads around our significant football codes is likewise tempting children to gamble," Alliance for Gambling Reform president Martin Thomas stated.


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


The alliance is contacting all candidates in the upcoming federal election to dedicate to the suggestions made following the Murphy query into online gambling, chaired by the late Labor Murphy.


The questions's 2023 report discovered a "gush" of marketing and simulated gaming through video games was grooming kids to bet and motivating riskier behaviour.


It suggested an overall phase-out of all betting marketing over 3 years.


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


Australians currently acquire the world's greatest gambling losses, positioning $244.3 billion in bets every year.


Rates of betting have increased since 2019 and average yearly losses increased from nearly $2000 per person to about $2500, according to the Australian Institute report.


The nation's overall betting losses at $31.5 billion rivals the entire Northern Territory economy and is greater than the $21 billion lost to gambling in all of Las Vegas, the report added.