'Alarming': One In Three Aussie Children Gambling

About one in three Aussie kids are chancing on their futures, losing more than $18 million to betting each year.


The current findings launched by think tank the reveal 30 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds gamble, with the figure spiralling to almost half of 18 to 19-year-olds.


That's 600,000 teenagers gambling each year.


Gambling reform advocates say it's the outcome of an intentional attempt by the gaming market to groom kids to bet from an extremely young age.


"There is evidence that the betting market targets kids as young as 14 years old through social media, prompting them to download gambling ads, and the saturation of betting advertisements around our significant football codes is likewise luring kids to bet," Alliance for Gambling Reform president Martin Thomas said.


"It is both disconcerting and terrible to comprehend that the variety of teens betting under the legal age would fill the MCG 6 times over."


The alliance is contacting all candidates in the upcoming federal election to commit to the recommendations made following the Murphy questions into online gaming, chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.


The inquiry's 2023 report found a "torrent" of marketing and simulated gaming through computer game was grooming children to wager and motivating riskier behaviour.


It recommended an overall phase-out of all gambling advertising over three years.


Despite the review being all backed across parliament with no dissenting remarks, Labor has actually dragged its feet on betting reform despite increasing pressure to ban betting advertisements.


Australians currently rack up the world's greatest betting losses, placing $244.3 billion in bets every year.


Rates of gambling have actually increased given that 2019 and typical yearly losses rose from almost $2000 per person to about $2500, according to the Australian Institute report.


The nation's overall gambling losses at $31.5 billion competitors the whole Northern Territory economy and is higher than the $21 billion lost to betting in all of Las Vegas, the report included.