Online gambling: a rising addiction
These multimedia stories were created by ECU Journalism students and are shared in collaboration with RTRFM.
When we realise how normalised sports betting behaviour is becoming within so many social groups it raises concern within the community, writes Keely Lynch.
“People aren’t coming to me, asking for prevention; it’s usually when things have already gone wrong,” says Fremantle Gambling Counsellor, Tucker Christou.
Mr Christou is one of the very few gambling counsellors in WA. I met with him to discuss the current demand for gambling help, which is demonstrating how much of an issue online gambling is becoming within the WA community.
Driving this issue is our generation’s addiction to technology and online platforms. During the Covid-19 lockdown, when land-based betting locations such as casinos, sports bars and races closed, many relied on online sport betting platforms. Although we were confined to our home, punters weren’t kept out of the games.
“There’s always been a demand; I found I had waitlists,” Mr Christou says.
“Then we had the pandemic and there was an increase, particularly among the youth. The younger generation has been at home and is gaming. Although not gambling for financial reasons. Gaming and the addiction of gaming can still have the same amount of effect on one’s wellbeing.”
“Post-pandemic demand even continued to increase,” he adds.
“A trend as well as the youth, I’ve seen more female clients come through.
“A lot of parents coming to me with their children from as young as 12.”
The access to multiple platforms, with hundreds of sports from anywhere at any time, is all too convenient. Gambling advertising plays a crucial role in targeting the youth.
Advertising typically depicts online gambling as thrilling, glamorous and skilful, promising easy financial rewards. We hear and watch these advertisements in-between commentary and live sports programming.
Additionally, sporting companies don’t communicate a person can have an account on as many different sporting apps as they like. using multiple credit cards.
“People are falling into the trap of the advertising that comes with live sports,” says sports journalist Jimmy Williams.
In Australia, sports betting is the fastest-growing form of gambling. As of March 2022, sports bet alone claimed 50 per cent of Australia’s sports betting market. SportsBet reached over 1 million Australian average monthly players in 2021, representing a 60% increase since 2019.
Online betting became the ‘thing to do. And when we normalise our social activities around these gambling antics it becomes accepted as normal behaviour. We all know that gambling is nothing new, but how it’s now being talked about shows its growth in acceptance and how much culture has changed. Could online gambling become WA communities’ next biggest issue?
