A sports-obsessed Australian who overcame his gambling addiction after losing more than $200,000 is still receiving spam messages from casinos trying to lure him back.
Fred had just graduated high school in 2015 when he became addicted to gambling after inheriting a small fortune.
The AFL fanatic and avid Magpies supporter, from Caulfield in Melbourne’s south-east, estimates he has lost about $230,000 gambling on the sport.
Now rehabilitated, the 26-year-old is calling for government reforms, starting with better education in schools.
“It was a really ugly, unhealthy evolution for my love and obsession with sports,” Fred told 9News.
Fred (pictured), 26, said he became addicted to gambling in 2015 after inheriting a small fortune.
The AFL fanatic and avid Magpies supporter, from Caulfield in Melbourne’s south-east (pictured), estimates he has lost about $230,000 on the sport.
“It not only takes lives, it ends people’s lives. People end their lives,” he added.
“We are having sex, Ed. We have drugs, where’s the gambling? I think now is the time.
Fred explained that he is able to resist the temptation, but constantly receives “repulsive” text messages from casinos trying to lure him back into gambling.
Alliance for Gambling Reform campaigner Tim Costello said gambling was Australia’s “blind spot”.
“We lose the most gambling of any nation in the world, 40 percent more than the nation in second place,” Costello told 9News.
“If America’s blind spot is guns, ours is gambling.”
It comes after the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policing and Legal Affairs announced in September 2022 an inquiry into online gambling and its impact on problem gamblers.
Rates of problem gambling among online gamblers in Australia are three times higher than those who play poker machines (pictured, image of a man betting online)
It comes after the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policing and Legal Affairs announced in September 2022 an inquiry into online gambling and its impact on problem gamblers.
The commission’s chairman, Ms Peta Murphy MP, said public hearings on April 4 and 5 will examine sports betting companies on whether they are doing enough to limit the harm of online gambling.
“We will be questioning Sportsbet, Tabcorp and Entain (operator of the Ladbrokes and Neds brands) and the industry’s peak body, Responsible Wagering Australia, on whether the industry is doing enough to limit the harm of online gambling,” Ms Murphy said. :
“Research published last week by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) shows that Australians support greater restrictions on gambling advertising and that gambling advertising encourages people to gamble in riskier ways.
“The AFL and NRL are major beneficiaries of sports betting, including through sponsorship and advertising, and receive a cut of every bet placed on their games.
“The Commission is interested to hear how this aligns with the promotion of their codes as family-friendly and socially responsible organisations.”
The committee received almost 150 submissions from sports betting organisations.
Ms Murphy explained that the committee would report on any regulatory action taken by the federal government and warned that broadcasters, sports codes and betting firms should expect more restrictions on advertising and promotion.
Commission chairwoman Peta Murphy MP (pictured) warned that broadcasters, sports codes and betting firms should expect more restrictions on advertising and promotion.
“It is abundantly clear that it is not just members of the community who are concerned about the proliferation of sports betting advertising and the increasing involvement of young people in sports betting,” Ms Murphy said.
In Australia, the rate of problem gambling among online gamblers is three times higher than for those who play poker machines.
The Australian sports betting industry is expected to generate $50 billion in bets between 2021 and 2022.
The total includes all bets from 32 sportsbooks and two betting exchanges licensed in the Northern Territory on races, sports codes by phone or online.
Source: |: This article originally belonged to Dailymail.co.uk