SYDNEY - Australia's powerful gambling industry, one of the largest in the world, is under assault as never before.
It has been put on notice by a new generation of political leaders and is being attacked by an increasingly broad cross-section of society.
Both Mr Mark Latham, leader of the opposition Labor Party, and Mr Peter Costello, heir apparent to Prime Minister John Howard as head of the Liberal Party, have signalled a firmer approach to tackling what has become one of Australia's biggest social problems.
'I want an assurance that in the future the states aren't relying excessively on gaming revenue,' said Mr Latham. 'I want to talk to the states and work with them constructively to get on top of the problem.'
Mr Latham and Mr Costello have pledged to tackle the state governments' 'addiction to gambling revenues' and to find ways to reduce their dependence on the industry.
But gambling in Australia is more firmly entrenched in popular culture than in many other societies, said Prof Jan McMillen, head of the Centre for Gambling Research at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
With a philosophy that gambling was acceptable if its profits benefited the community, Australia in 1916 became one of the first countries to institute an official lottery, using one to fund the Opera House.
The nation stops for horse-racing's Melbourne Cup, a public holiday in Victoria, while about 85 per cent of people place a bet at least once a year, half of that number regularly.
'In the US, gambling is treated as a vice, whereas here it is regarded as a recreation,' said Dr David Marshall, also of the ANU.
However, technology and the introduction of slot machines, or 'pokies' as they are known, have led to an explosion in gambling.
In 2002, Australians lost A$15 billion (S$18.2 billion) on gambling or A$1,016 per adult - double the annual budget for higher education and up from less than A$6 billion 10 years ago.
Anti-gambling campaigners say the federal government has a limited ability to regulate the sector, which is a state responsibility. Many pubs and clubs in remote communities would not survive without gaming.
State governments also depend on the industry to fund services such as health and education.
In the 2002-03 financial year, Queensland earned A$373 million from pokies, Victoria A$826 million and New South Wales A$757 million.
Nevertheless, the work of campaigners such as the Interchurch Gambling Taskforce in Victoria and much-publicised recent tragedies such as the Melbourne woman whose baby, left in a car while she was gambling, died of heatstroke, have led to a growing backlash against pokies in particular.
The states have either introduced caps on the number of pokies or, in South Australia's case, begun moves to reduce them by a fifth.
Prof McMillen said that although regulation of pokies was improving, the action was moving to Internet gambling.
Internet casinos are not permitted in Australia - apart from one that began operation before the ban - but gambling on sports on the Web is legal and sports betting grew 50 per cent in the last financial year, compared with a 6 per cent rise for other forms of gambling. -- Financial Times
One pokie for every five Aussies
Australia is home to some 21 per cent of the world's electronic gaming machines. There is one for every five Australians, five times as many per head as in the US.
Poker machines - which account for 57 per cent of spending on gambling - and more recently the advent of Internet betting have caused the amount being lost each year to almost quadruple in the past two decades.
In the 2002-03 financial year, South Australia earned A$241 million (S$292 million) from 'pokies', Queensland A$373 million, Victoria A$826 million and New South Wales A$757 million.
Taxes from gambling are forecast to make up 14.8 per cent of Victoria's revenues this year. The share for other states is 8 to 12 per cent.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,249848,00.html
It has been put on notice by a new generation of political leaders and is being attacked by an increasingly broad cross-section of society.
Both Mr Mark Latham, leader of the opposition Labor Party, and Mr Peter Costello, heir apparent to Prime Minister John Howard as head of the Liberal Party, have signalled a firmer approach to tackling what has become one of Australia's biggest social problems.
'I want an assurance that in the future the states aren't relying excessively on gaming revenue,' said Mr Latham. 'I want to talk to the states and work with them constructively to get on top of the problem.'
Mr Latham and Mr Costello have pledged to tackle the state governments' 'addiction to gambling revenues' and to find ways to reduce their dependence on the industry.
But gambling in Australia is more firmly entrenched in popular culture than in many other societies, said Prof Jan McMillen, head of the Centre for Gambling Research at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
With a philosophy that gambling was acceptable if its profits benefited the community, Australia in 1916 became one of the first countries to institute an official lottery, using one to fund the Opera House.
The nation stops for horse-racing's Melbourne Cup, a public holiday in Victoria, while about 85 per cent of people place a bet at least once a year, half of that number regularly.
'In the US, gambling is treated as a vice, whereas here it is regarded as a recreation,' said Dr David Marshall, also of the ANU.
However, technology and the introduction of slot machines, or 'pokies' as they are known, have led to an explosion in gambling.
In 2002, Australians lost A$15 billion (S$18.2 billion) on gambling or A$1,016 per adult - double the annual budget for higher education and up from less than A$6 billion 10 years ago.
Anti-gambling campaigners say the federal government has a limited ability to regulate the sector, which is a state responsibility. Many pubs and clubs in remote communities would not survive without gaming.
State governments also depend on the industry to fund services such as health and education.
In the 2002-03 financial year, Queensland earned A$373 million from pokies, Victoria A$826 million and New South Wales A$757 million.
Nevertheless, the work of campaigners such as the Interchurch Gambling Taskforce in Victoria and much-publicised recent tragedies such as the Melbourne woman whose baby, left in a car while she was gambling, died of heatstroke, have led to a growing backlash against pokies in particular.
The states have either introduced caps on the number of pokies or, in South Australia's case, begun moves to reduce them by a fifth.
Prof McMillen said that although regulation of pokies was improving, the action was moving to Internet gambling.
Internet casinos are not permitted in Australia - apart from one that began operation before the ban - but gambling on sports on the Web is legal and sports betting grew 50 per cent in the last financial year, compared with a 6 per cent rise for other forms of gambling. -- Financial Times
One pokie for every five Aussies
Australia is home to some 21 per cent of the world's electronic gaming machines. There is one for every five Australians, five times as many per head as in the US.
Poker machines - which account for 57 per cent of spending on gambling - and more recently the advent of Internet betting have caused the amount being lost each year to almost quadruple in the past two decades.
In the 2002-03 financial year, South Australia earned A$241 million (S$292 million) from 'pokies', Queensland A$373 million, Victoria A$826 million and New South Wales A$757 million.
Taxes from gambling are forecast to make up 14.8 per cent of Victoria's revenues this year. The share for other states is 8 to 12 per cent.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,249848,00.html
