
Australians lose more money to gambling in a year than government spends on aged care, report finds
Australians are losing more money to gambling each year than the federal government spends on aged care and almost as much as it spends on the national disability insurance scheme, a new report has found.
The report by Equity Economics found that despite the cost-of-living crisis, the amount of money being lost to gambling has significantly increased. Expenditure on gambling has also risen faster than the cost of education, housing and inflation.
'There is a hidden, unspoken black hole in household budgets that government cost-of-living policies has failed to address,' the report said. 'This black hole is gambling losses.
'Governments have responded swiftly in recent years to the cost-of-living crisis, but there had been a complete policy vacuum on mitigating the cost-of-living impacts of gambling,' the report said.
According to the report, Australians lose $31.5bn to the gambling industry each year. The authors drew a direct comparison to the $28.3bn the federal government spends on the aged care sector each year and the $35.2bn it allocates for the NDIS.
'Contrary to expectations, gambling expenditure relative to household expenditure has not decreased amidst the cost-of-living crisis,' the report said. 'Instead, it has continued to rise year on year after the temporary dip caused by Covid-19 venue and event closures, to return to pre-pandemic levels.
'Lower-income households are particularly vulnerable, as the rising cost of essential goods and services further squeezes already tight budgets, leaving even less room for unexpected expenses, emergencies, or discretionary spending.'
Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email
The report was commissioned by the Alliance for Gambling Reform and Wesley Mission, which are both long-term campaigners for stronger restrictions on gambling advertising and operating hours.
The alliance's chief executive, Martin Thomas, said gambling was often ignored as a cost-of-living impact on families.
'Gambling reforms, such as banning gambling advertising, represent a non-inflationary, low-cost suite of initiatives that would bring profound relief to families,' Thomas said.
Wesley Mission's chief executive, Stu Cameron, said state and federal governments had not taken enough action to address 'spiralling gambling losses'.
'Every day we see the impact of gambling losses on families, yet for too long it has remained a hidden, unspoken black hole in household budgets that governments have failed to address,' Cameron said.
'There is overwhelming public support for banning gambling advertising. It's time for the major parties to stop dancing to the tune of the sports gambling industry and have the political will and moral courage to act in accordance with the community's wishes.'
The Monash University associate professor Charles Livingstone has previously told Guardian Australia that gambling losses often increase during times of financial hardship because 'people gamble when they are desperate'.
Sign up to Breaking News Australia
Get the most important news as it breaks
after newsletter promotion
'Desperate people often turn to desperate measures and some people unfortunately think they have an opportunity to win something,' Livingstone said.
'The more prevailing reason for this is people under stress are more likely to develop a gambling habit as it relieves their stress and that's the same reason why there are so many poker machines in areas of disadvantage.'
The Equity Economics report said gambling losses 'disproportionately burden those households least able to afford them'.
'Given gambling's public health impact, addictive nature and significant negative externalities, coupled with insufficient regulation and widespread accessibility, there is a clear need for stronger government intervention,' the report said.
On Tuesday, the NSW government announced it no longer planned to remove 9,500 poker machines from the state over the next five years, despite pledging to do so before the state election.
During a parliamentary hearing, the state's gaming minister, David Harris, said the government's policy had changed after listening to advice from an independent panel on gambling reform.
The panel's members included several groups that operate or profit from poker machines including Clubs NSW, the Australian Hotels Association, Gaming Technologies Australia and Leagues Clubs Australia.
In Australia, Gambling Help Online is available on 1800 858 858. The National Debt Helpline is at 1800 007 007. In the UK, support for problem gambling can be found via the NHS National Problem Gambling Clinic on 020 7381 7722, or GamCare on 0808 8020 133. In the US, call the National Council on Problem Gambling at 800-GAMBLER or text 800GAM
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Civil Service workforce up 2,000 to almost 20-year high, figures suggest
A total of 550,000 people were employed in the Civil Service as of March 2025, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is up from 548,000 in December 2024 and a rise of 1% year-on-year from 544,000 in March 2024. Headcount fell to 416,000 in June 2016, the month of the EU referendum. Since that date, the total has risen steadily, driven chiefly by the impact of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. The Government announced in April this year that it planned to cut around 2,100 staff from the Cabinet Office, as part of a plan to shrink the Civil Service and reduce the cost of bureaucracy. Some 1,200 roles will disappear through redundancies, while 900 will be transferred to other departments. The latest Civil Service headcount of 550,000 is nearly a third higher (32%) than it was in 2016, or an increase of 134,000. Of the 550,000, almost 443,000 are full-time roles and the remainder are part-time positions. The last time the quarterly headcount was higher than the current figure was in June 2006, when it stood at 553,000. The total was on a downwards path during the second half of the 2000s and this trend continued into the 2010s until the EU referendum in 2016, after which the headcount began to climb. It grew by 40,000 in the years between 2016 and the start of the pandemic, as thousands of people were recruited to manage the complex and lengthy Brexit process. There was then a further jump once the pandemic was under way, as the Government hired staff to oversee huge projects such as the furlough scheme, testing for Covid-19 and the rollout of the vaccination programme. Headcount increased by 56,000 between March 2020, when the first lockdown began, and March 2022. By June 2024, just ahead of the general election on July 4, the total had reached at 546,000, since when the figure has increased by a further 4,000. Responding to the data, a Government spokesperson said: 'This increase is driven by recruitment to operational roles, including tax collectors and probation officers. 'As part of our Plan for Change, we are creating a more agile and productive state – reducing back-office costs to deliver savings of over £2 billion by 2030 and targeting spending on front line services. 'We have already announced a new cross-government fund for exit schemes to reduce staffing numbers over the next two years, as well as introducing measures to make it quicker and easier to remove poor performers from post.' Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in March that Civil Service running costs would be reduced by 15% by the end of the decade. As well as abolishing quangos such as NHS England, ministers have committed to increasing the proportion of civil servants working in digital and data roles, creating a workforce 'fit for the future'. Two Government departments together account for more than a third of the full Civil Service headcount: the Department for Work & Pensions (17.6% of the total) and the Ministry of Justice (17.5%). The next largest are HM Revenue & Customs (12.9%), the Ministry of Defence (10.5%) and the Home Office (9.2%). These five departments together account for just over two-thirds of the total headcount.

Leader Live
2 hours ago
- Leader Live
Civil Service workforce up 2,000 to almost 20-year high, figures suggest
A total of 550,000 people were employed in the Civil Service as of March 2025, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is up from 548,000 in December 2024 and a rise of 1% year-on-year from 544,000 in March 2024. Headcount fell to 416,000 in June 2016, the month of the EU referendum. Since that date, the total has risen steadily, driven chiefly by the impact of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. The Government announced in April this year that it planned to cut around 2,100 staff from the Cabinet Office, as part of a plan to shrink the Civil Service and reduce the cost of bureaucracy. Some 1,200 roles will disappear through redundancies, while 900 will be transferred to other departments. The latest Civil Service headcount of 550,000 is nearly a third higher (32%) than it was in 2016, or an increase of 134,000. Of the 550,000, almost 443,000 are full-time roles and the remainder are part-time positions. The last time the quarterly headcount was higher than the current figure was in June 2006, when it stood at 553,000. The total was on a downwards path during the second half of the 2000s and this trend continued into the 2010s until the EU referendum in 2016, after which the headcount began to climb. It grew by 40,000 in the years between 2016 and the start of the pandemic, as thousands of people were recruited to manage the complex and lengthy Brexit process. There was then a further jump once the pandemic was under way, as the Government hired staff to oversee huge projects such as the furlough scheme, testing for Covid-19 and the rollout of the vaccination programme. Headcount increased by 56,000 between March 2020, when the first lockdown began, and March 2022. By June 2024, just ahead of the general election on July 4, the total had reached at 546,000, since when the figure has increased by a further 4,000. Responding to the data, a Government spokesperson said: 'This increase is driven by recruitment to operational roles, including tax collectors and probation officers. 'As part of our Plan for Change, we are creating a more agile and productive state – reducing back-office costs to deliver savings of over £2 billion by 2030 and targeting spending on front line services. 'We have already announced a new cross-government fund for exit schemes to reduce staffing numbers over the next two years, as well as introducing measures to make it quicker and easier to remove poor performers from post.' Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in March that Civil Service running costs would be reduced by 15% by the end of the decade. As well as abolishing quangos such as NHS England, ministers have committed to increasing the proportion of civil servants working in digital and data roles, creating a workforce 'fit for the future'. Two Government departments together account for more than a third of the full Civil Service headcount: the Department for Work & Pensions (17.6% of the total) and the Ministry of Justice (17.5%). The next largest are HM Revenue & Customs (12.9%), the Ministry of Defence (10.5%) and the Home Office (9.2%). These five departments together account for just over two-thirds of the total headcount.


Glasgow Times
2 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Civil Service workforce up 2,000 to almost 20-year high, figures suggest
A total of 550,000 people were employed in the Civil Service as of March 2025, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is up from 548,000 in December 2024 and a rise of 1% year-on-year from 544,000 in March 2024. Headcount fell to 416,000 in June 2016, the month of the EU referendum. Since that date, the total has risen steadily, driven chiefly by the impact of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. The Government announced in April this year that it planned to cut around 2,100 staff from the Cabinet Office, as part of a plan to shrink the Civil Service and reduce the cost of bureaucracy. Some 1,200 roles will disappear through redundancies, while 900 will be transferred to other departments. The latest Civil Service headcount of 550,000 is nearly a third higher (32%) than it was in 2016, or an increase of 134,000. Of the 550,000, almost 443,000 are full-time roles and the remainder are part-time positions. The last time the quarterly headcount was higher than the current figure was in June 2006, when it stood at 553,000. The total was on a downwards path during the second half of the 2000s and this trend continued into the 2010s until the EU referendum in 2016, after which the headcount began to climb. It grew by 40,000 in the years between 2016 and the start of the pandemic, as thousands of people were recruited to manage the complex and lengthy Brexit process. There was then a further jump once the pandemic was under way, as the Government hired staff to oversee huge projects such as the furlough scheme, testing for Covid-19 and the rollout of the vaccination programme. Headcount increased by 56,000 between March 2020, when the first lockdown began, and March 2022. By June 2024, just ahead of the general election on July 4, the total had reached at 546,000, since when the figure has increased by a further 4,000. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in March that Civil Service running costs would be reduced by 15% by the end of the decade. As well as abolishing quangos such as NHS England, ministers have committed to increasing the proportion of civil servants working in digital and data roles, creating a workforce 'fit for the future'.