Gambling regulation: Australian Greens call for end of Melbourne Cup

The party’s deputy leader made the call on the first day of this year’s event.

Australia.- Senator Mehreen Faruqi, deputy leader of the Australian Greens and spokesperson for Animal Welfare has called for the end of the Melbourne Cup and other horse racing activities in the country. Making the comments on the opening day of this year’s event, Faruqi said there has been a 22.5 per cent decline in the commercial television audience for the event since 2013.

He said: “The only reason this carnival of cruelty goes on is because gambling companies make a windfall and they bankroll the two major parties into silence The Melbourne Cup epitomises the farce of the horse racing industry in a single day: a shameful cocktail of animal cruelty, gambling harm, corporate profits and dirty donations.

“In the past decade as hundreds of horses have been killed on race tracks this gambling-fuelled spectacle of cruelty is losing its social licence. Gambling companies know this and are protecting their profits by giving more and more blood money to both Labor and the Liberals. The two major parties serve their donors. They ignore the pain and harm gambling inflicts on countless people  and they certainly do not care that a horse is killed every two  and a half days on race tracks.” 

See also: Former finance minister blasts industry lobbying against gaming machine reforms in Tasmania

Greens criticise rise in horseracing betting companies’ donations to political parties

Meanwhile, the Greens have criticised political donations from horseracing betting operators. It noted that a search of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Transparency Register revealed that donations from gambling companies linked to horse betting to the Labor and Liberal parties have risen 632 per cent in the last decade, from AU$66,650 in 2013-2014 to AU$488,000 (US$321,000) in 2022-2023.

Eight betting companies have collectively contributed AU$2.7m (US$1.78m) to major political parties over the past decade. The Labor Party received AU$1.49m (US$0.98m), while the Liberals were given AU$952,500 (US$628k) and the Nationals AU$263,300 (US$174k).

Tabcorp has been the largest donor. The company has donated AU$1.02m from 2013 to 2023. Sportsbet contributed AU$823,050. Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA), the independent organisation for Australian-licenced wagering operators established after the dissolution of the Australian Wagering Council in 2016, has provided political parties with AU$651,320 (US$430k) in contributions.

Faruqi said: “If you want to know why Labor has done nothing to address the scourge of gambling or the cruelty of horse racing here you have it in hard numbers. They’re getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in blood money donations from horse betting companies.

“Labor and the Liberals work for their donors and lobby groups. They don’t care about the pain that gambling causes to so many in this country. They don’t care that a horse gets killed every two days on race tracks in this anachronistic, grotesque festival of cruelty. All they care about is lining their pockets with donations from the gambling industry.”

See also: Opposition raises concerns over progress on Tasmania gaming machine reforms