A CRY FOR HELP

I can't get the image of a 23-year-old man asleep on a crane platform, 33 stories above the street in Broadbeach, Gold Coast. He had lost a week's wages at the casino that night. Devastated, he climbed the crane, gambling his life. It could be anyone's son, anyone's grandson.

This event is the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of Australian gamblers suffer severe mental health issues and social problems, especially young men. The Grattan Institute research shows that losses to Australians are the biggest in the world, $32 Billion in 2011-2023. As a retired counsellor I have seen more than I care to remember of the suffering of victims who allow the addiction to overtake their lives.

The young man who gambled with his life, centimetres from a fall to his death said he had been back to the atm six or seven times to withdraw money. "Nobody said anything", he said. He would have liked someone to ask, "Are you ok?" In the powerful grip of addiction, often a victim wants someone to reach out and be a circuit - breaker.

He said that gambling was a 'normal' part of many young mens' lives, especially in the building industry. Research indicates 'normalisation' is growing at a steady rate in Australia.

One strategy used successfully by the government to combat the nicotine epidemic, promoted by tobacco companies was to prohibit promotion. The decline of smoking has produced significant gains to Australians' physical and emotional health, and their hip pocket.

The same approach is needed to fight the saturation of our media with gambling advertising, especially in sport. We are on the doorstep of another season of winter sport where a tsunami of ads will entice more of our young people to apps and online betting.

The government is to be commended on its initiative in banning gambling advertising during games. That's a start. More needs to be done.

Sports betting needs to be banned OUTRIGHT.

Politicians argue that it will cost jobs. A blanket ban will have 'unintended consequences' for media companies' revenue. Gambling taxes are necessary for government revenue.

One of the greatest social issues in history that caused untold suffering for blacks - slavery, was outlawed in the English parliament in 1834, in the face of similar protests by many of the nobility whose wealth prospered from slave labour. There were major shifts, social and economic, not only for England but many of other countries that followed suit.

If a company has to rely on profits that contribute to the deterioration of the physical and mental health of our community, it is not worthy of a place in society.

A government that insists on the necessity of taxes for an activity that creates an indelible stain on the soul of our community, is not worth voting for.

Enough is enough. Let your voice be heard.

Image courtesy of Channel 7