Pollie sports club highlights gambling's 'iron grip' on our Federal parliament

Revelations that Independent Senator David Pocock has been kicked out of a politician’s sports club that is funded by the gambling industry underscores the iron grip this predatory industry has on our leaders.

Senator Pocock recently brought to light the fact that lobbyists were buying access to parliamentarians by purchasing $2500 sponsorships of the Parliamentary Sports Club.

The club’s sponsors include the peak body for gambling companies like SportsBet, Responsible Wagering Australia, whose CEO is a regular participant in matches with parliamentarians.

“In a week where parliament should have been responding to a series of disturbing issues raised by Monday’s Four Corners about the gambling industry such as outrageous commissions`, weak regulation, the pocketing of proceeds of crime and inducements) instead they are kicking out those asking legitimate questions from a sports club,” Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate, Tim Costello, said.

“This amounts to punishing a whistleblower to protect vested interests.”

“It is almost incomprehensible just how deep the tentacles of the gambling industry have reached into government. It puts our leaders, including the Prime Minister, in a terrible position. This sporting group must immediately severe all links to the gambling industry.”

“None of this passes the pub test, we must crack down on the undue influence that ruthless gambling companies are exerting in our Parliament.”

Rev Costello said while the government vowed to take action to protect kids from social media harm it has all but abandoned our kids to the clutches of a predatory and ruthless gambling industry.

 Shocking findings from The Australia Institute show that up to 600,000 teenagers under 18 years of age are gambling, spending more than $18 million annually.

Almost one in three (30%) 12-17 year olds gamble and this spirals to almost half (46%) of 18-19 year olds who are betting $213 million every year, according to new research by the Australia Institute.

The research finds: “Australians start gambling in large numbers well before they are old enough to legally gamble”.

The Alliance for Gambling Reform’s Chief Executive, Martin Thomas, said the shocking findings are the result of a deliberate attempt by the gambling industry to groom children to gamble at a very young age.

“There is evidence that the gambling industry targets kids as young as 14 years old through social media, urging them to download gambling ads and the saturation of gambling ads around our major football codes is also luring children to gamble,” he said.

“It is both alarming and tragic to understand that the number of teenagers gambling under the legal age would fill the MCG six times over.”

The Murphy inquiry into online gambling, chaired by the late Labor MP, Peta Murphy, and unanimously supported by inquiry members from both sides of politics, found that: “The  inescapable torrent of gambling advertising was normalising online gambling and its links with sport, grooming children and young people to gamble, and encouraging riskier behaviour”.

Link here to the report