Australia debates gambling levy proposal

A house inquiry has recomended a levy to fund gambling harm treatment.

Australia.- A debate has begun in Australia about a proposal for a gambling levy to fund the treatment of gambling harm. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs proposed the measure in its inquiry into online gambling.

Advocates of the idea believe it’s an opportunity for the government to address the costs of gambling harm and provide adequate support. However, industry representatives argue that the industry already makes contributions through tax revenue. Some campaigners say the levy would have to be well designed and that preventive measures and changes to industry practices were more important.

Lauren Levin, a longtime harm reduction campaigner with Financial Counselling Australia, told The Guardian: “At the moment, the gambling industry and its bedfellows lobby government pointing to the jobs they create, their contributions to tax revenue, and the crumbs flung to some junior sports programs.

“But they don’t talk about the costs to society of picking up the pieces and trying to put together broken lives – an impossible task. This burden is stretching community services and people are falling through the cracks in a big way. The gambling companies take their massive profits and [have] socialised the losses.”

Samantha Thomas, a gambling researcher and public health expert at Deakin University, said there was “little evidence the proposed levy, as recommended in the report, would change industry practices.”

“Ultimately the industry may see a levy as a cost that is worth absorbing because it allows them to present themselves as a good corporate citizen contributing to treatment services. This can also deflect responsibility from doing things that would actually prevent harms occurring in the first place.”

The house committee made 31 recommendations in its report, including a phased ban on all advertisements that direct people to gambling websites and apps, the creation of a comprehensive national strategy for online gambling harm reduction, an online gambling ombudsman, a public education campaign and more independent research and improved data collection.