Gambling giants have adopted the Big Tobacco playbook to effectively avoid regulation, report Associate Professor Charles Livingstone and Dr Jenn Lacy-Nichols.
Gambling businesses in Australia have a long history of effectively influencing and controlling government policy and regulation over a national pastime that makes the nation the world’s biggest gamblers per capita.
The gambling industry can wield that level of control because it turns over $244.3 billion (2022–23) and generates more than $10 billion a year in gambling tax revenue to financially stretched State governments.
“The gambling industry has a long history of influencing and controlling government policy”
This substantial financial contribution from gambling provides access to government decision-makers. While the gambling businesses have adopted parts of the tobacco industry’s ‘corporate playbook’ to resist regulation. These tactics have allowed the gambling industry to effectively avoid regulation and instead allowed them to expand their highly profitable commercial activities.
Gambling businesses are well resourced because the products they sell are extremely profitable, and they have worked hard over many years to ensure gambling remains deeply embedded in Australian social life.
A key development towards that came with the introduction of gambling machines, known as poker or “pokie” machines, into suburban social clubs from 1956 onwards, and later into pubs and hotels. This helped make gambling seem like a normal part of community life.
“Australians are the world’s biggest gamblers per capita”
In most Australian states and territories (except Western Australia which restricts poker machines to a single casino), poker machines are widespread and operate largely without question in venues that are also used for family meals and social and sporting activities.
The development of these social clubs in New South Wales was particularly important. They helped provide sporting and recreational facilities in new postwar suburbs at a time when governments were unable to provide enough financial support for community infrastructure. This gave the clubs a strong community image and helped make their gambling activities more acceptable.
This approach continues today. It is not unique to Australia. Gambling businesses around the world use similar strategies, sometimes described as the ‘alibi model’. Clubs NSW, the largest gambling network in Australia, has carefully maintained this tradition and uses it whenever possible to promote the image of these social clubs as organisations that give generously to their communities.
“Clubs NSW has carefully maintained this tradition and uses it whenever possible”
Big Tobacco’s latest attack front – more in our series “Democracy for Sale”. Source: The Klaxon
The close connection between local community clubs, sporting organisations and some of Australia’s largest commercial gambling operators makes it harder to challenge the normalisation and influence of the gambling industry.
Gambling operators are also among Australia’s biggest political donors, according to research. Political donations can provide access to decision-makers, which can then give gambling businesses greater influence over policies that affect them. Australia has also developed a strong ‘revolving door’ between politics and the gambling industry.
“Gambling operators are also among Australia’s biggest political donors”
There are some restrictions on politicians taking jobs after leaving office, but the definition of a ‘lobbyist’ is narrow. It generally excludes people working directly for companies or industry associations to influence government.
As a result, many people involved in lobbying are not subject to the same rules. Former senators, premiers, ministers, political advisers and senior public officials have taken jobs with some of Australia’s largest gambling companies, sometimes soon after leaving public office.
“Australia has developed a strong ‘revolving door’ between politics and the gambling industry”
Hospitality is another form of influence. This can range from MPs given private boxes at major sporting events, or the Sports Minister attending football grand finals and tickets for MPs attending the Melbourne Cup racing carnival, to “policy briefing” lunches and dinners for the minister responsible for oversight of the gambling industry at expensive restaurants.
These benefits may have to be declared, but the conversations that take place are not made public. The access provided by hospitality can be significant. A politician may spend several hours with an industry representative at an event, giving the host much more time and access than they would normally have during a visit to a parliamentary office.
Some states have introduced new rules that limit political donations from certain businesses, including gambling operators. The federal government has weaker rules around political transparency and integrity, with limited enforcement and relatively weak penalties. In practice, this means that Australia has a political system in which powerful interests can influence governments while making that influence difficult for the public to see.
“Australia has a political system in which powerful interests can influence governments while making that influence difficult for the public to see”
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The federal Coalition has been heavily criticised for taking very little action in response to the online gambling inquiry. Image: Susie Dodds/AAP
How effective are the gambling lobby’s tactics?
Recent experience suggests they can be extremely effective. In 2010–11, the minority Gillard government sought to introduce a system that would allow poker machine players to set limits on how much they could spend. ClubsNSW, representing clubs with poker machines across New South Wales, launched a highly effective campaign.
It targeted Labor politicians in marginal seats in New South Wales and Queensland. Although Clubs NSW remained the public face of the campaign, partly because of the positive community image created by the ‘alibi’ of community benefits, it brought much of the gambling industry together behind the campaign and had access to almost unlimited financial resources. Nervous backbenchers became increasingly concerned, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard eventually found a way to abandon the commitment. No major reform followed.
More recently, a 2023 federal parliamentary inquiry into “Online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm”, chaired by MP Peta Murphy, concluded that “enough is enough”. And recommended major reforms to online gambling in order to reduce its harm to Australians.
The recommendations included banning gambling advertising across all media, developing a national strategy for gambling regulation, and establishing a new national gambling regulator. Once again, the gambling industry responded quickly, with wagering companies taking the lead.
Sporting organisations and broadcasters, which now receive significant revenue from gambling, were among those most strongly opposed to the proposed reforms. They successfully stymied the changes. The reforms eventually announced by the government in 2026 fell well short of those recommended by the parliamentary committee.
In both cases, the gambling industry organisations successfully utilised their enormous lobbying powers to influence government. In both cases, those methods worked. And the Murphy inquiry’s important reform proposals were weakened or abandoned.
“The Murphy inquiry’s important reform proposals were weakened or abandoned”
The gambling industry provides a clear example of how the corporate playbook can be used to prevent reforms that could significantly reduce gambling harm. The reason is simple: the all powerful gambling industry knows only too well that effective regulation could reduce their revenues and profits.
Charles Livinsgtone is an Associate Professor at Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and researcher of gambling policy, a member of the World Health Organisation’s expert group on gambling, and a Commissioner of the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling.
Dr Jenn Lacy-Nichols is a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne and an NHMRC Emerging Leadership fellow. She was a lead author on the 2023 Lancet series on Commercial Determinants of Health and a member of WHO’s expert group on Commercial Determinants of Health.
This article is first published by The Klaxon and 360info.org
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Anthony Klan
Editor, The Klaxon
