'Alarming': One In 3 Aussie Children Gambling

About one in three Aussie kids are chancing on their futures, losing more than $18 million to gambling each year.


The most recent by think tank the Australia Institute show 30 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds gamble, with the figure spiralling to nearly half of 18 to 19-year-olds.


That's 600,000 teenagers gambling each year.


Gambling reform advocates say it's the outcome of a deliberate effort by the gambling market to groom children to bet from an extremely young age.


"There is proof that the gambling market targets kids as young as 14 years old through social media, urging them to download gambling ads, and the saturation of gambling advertisements around our major football codes is also tempting kids to bet," Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive Martin Thomas stated.


"It is both disconcerting and tragic to comprehend that the variety of teens gambling under the legal age would fill the MCG six times over."


The alliance is getting in touch with all prospects in the upcoming federal election to devote to the suggestions made following the Murphy inquiry into online betting, chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.


The questions's 2023 report found a "gush" of advertising and simulated betting through video games was grooming kids to wager and encouraging riskier behaviour.


It recommended an overall phase-out of all betting advertising over 3 years.


Despite the review being all backed throughout parliament without any dissenting remarks, Labor has dragged its feet on betting reform regardless of increasing pressure to ban betting ads.


Australians already rack up the world's greatest gambling losses, placing $244.3 billion in bets every year.


Rates of gambling have increased since 2019 and average annual losses increased from almost $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 betting in all of Las Vegas, the report included.