Online Gambling In Australia Regulated By NT Retirees
The multi-billion dollar online gambling sector in Australia is being regulated by 6 retirees in the NT who look like they should be on the local bowls committee. No offence intended to these individuals, but come on folks, the toothless tiger theme downunder is starting to wear a little thin. Regulation of big, billion dollar rich sectors by inadequately funded agencies is beyond a joke in Australia. I mean, governments from top to bottom in this country are bought off by campaign donations from stake holder companies, so what hope does this NT 6 have? It is amateur hour! Online gambling in Australia regulated by NT retirees.
Aussies Are The Biggest Losers In The World
“Possibly due to its compatibility with Australia’s love of sport and pub culture, gambling has long been a popular pastime among adults in Australia. In 2020, Australians spent close to 17 billion Australian dollars on electronic gaming machines, lotto, and other gaming alone.”
“Gambling is a major public policy issue in Australia, affecting the health and wellbeing of individuals and families in a range of ways. Estimates suggest that Australians lose approximately $25 billion on legal forms of gambling each year, representing the largest per capita losses in the world (Letts 2018; QGSO 2022).”
The thing is that Aussies are not good at it, gambling that is, because we are the biggest losers per capita in the world. Thus, the reason why the multinational online bookmakers are down here making hay while the sun shines. And that sun shines a lot downunder. Plus, government regulation is so lax in Australia that it is like governments are bending over to receive the penetrating reach of online gambling nationally.
Aussies Laughing All The Way To Problem Gambling
Sportsbet, Bet 365, Ladbrokes and the rest of them make those funny ads to keep their quarry laughing. Perhaps, taking a leaf from Donald Trump’s schtick – if you appear buffoonish it disguises your actual nefarious intent. The online gambling ads come thick and fast, as we have all seen on our screens over the last few years. Blokey and laddish. Appealing to the local masculine psyche. Disarming; and they make it easy to get your bet on via the technology. These online corporate bookmakers are registered and based in the NT because it is cheaper and much more relaxed in terms of official scrutiny. No worries mate! She’ll be right!
Politicians Running Scared Of The Gambling Industry
None of the 2 main pollical parties have been willing to take on the gambling giants in this country. They squib it every time. Waving the white feather is what Australian politicians do in the face of power. Doing deals and coming to some accommodation with them is par for the course in Canberra. I mean, we had the ridiculous situation of the PM parroting the line that the free to air TV industry would go under without the ad revenue from corporate bookmakers. Businesses adapt to changing circumstances or they are replaced by other businesses. In reality, the political parties are worried about concerted campaigns against them funded by these players.
A Serious Lack Of Online Gambling Regulation In Australia
Nobody is talking about banning gambling per se but regulating it properly. It is not an all or nothing situation, as some would like to frame it to the voting public. Online gambling in Australia regulated by NT retirees. The current regulatory model is a joke and its inadequacy is bordering on Monty Pythonesque. How do these regulators oversee a multi-billion dollar industry and not be unduly influenced by the might and power of the businesses involved? Who monitors the monitors? Who checks out what is actually going on and how well resourced are they?
This business famously wines and dines all those who can grease the wheels. How does the relaxed and casual set up in Darwin drill down into every detail to dig out the facts? It looks like amateur hour in the tropics. Power in Australia walks on water. Wealth wags the dog.
“Tim Costello, chief advocate at the Alliance for Gambling Reform, has compared gambling in Australia to guns in the US. Like gun control, the majority of Australians want stricter gambling advertising laws “
Timid Or Terrible?
Anthony Albanese’s government has failed to act on greater regulation for gambling in Australia. They say this federal election is a choice between timid and terrible. Peter Dutton and the LNP bringing up the latter categorisation. Online gambling in Australia regulated by NT retirees. Do we want a nation funded by the gambling sector and the power that bestows upon these corporate bookmakers? Are our politicians becoming puppets for powerful oligarchs? The mining industry and Gina Rhinehart with her hand up the back of Peter Dutton. The fossil fuel sector and the gas business, where ‘we the people’ get bugger all tax revenue or royalties for our gas. Why, then, do we have a gas export sector? What’s in it for us? Jobs?
“There was 13,665 people employed in the Liquefied Natural Gas Production in Australia as of 2023.”
There are 3 times as many people working at Bunnings. The gas multinationals are making tens of billions of dollars each year at our expense.
“Most of Australia’s gas, around 80%, is exported. More gas just means more profits for the gas industry while they pay little to no tax. For example, in 2022-23 gas corporations exporting from Queensland paid zero company tax on $36 billion of income. “
Why have we let these politicians make such rotten deals on our behalf? Is it corruption or incompetence? A bit of both, I think. Money talks and politicians don’t have the same skin in the game, as the fossil fuel companies they deal with. I mean, they have been getting away with making us look like schmucks for decades. The devil is always in the detail and Aussies are famous for not reading the fine print.
“The neoliberal mantra has been privatise, privatise, privatise. For profit operations do it better, apparently. The reality, however, is a different story in Australia and elsewhere. Privatised vocational training certification a crooked business. Ten years of LNP Coalition federal governments saw a big uptick in the privatisation of training colleges. This largely unregulated sector is rife with bogus certificates being issued by dodgy operators. It is estimated that a third of the 4 000 training and certification businesses in Australia are crooked and issuing false certificates for fast bucks. Why is this happening?”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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