All but a handful of Dan Davies adult years have been consumed by gambling.
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The Brown Hill cricket coach, who has played overseas and in Melbourne's premier cricket league, began gambling at 18 and quit two years ago with the help of Gamblers Anonymous.
He can’t say exactly what he’s lost – only that many days he bet whatever he had in his hand – some days thousands of dollars.
“I felt like I’d forgotten who I actually was because my memory since I was 18 was having to live with gambling dominating my life,” Mr Davies said.
“You have to let a lot of people down to facilitate that amount of gambling
“Essentially I was at the point where I would gamble pretty much whatever I had access to and it didn't matter if it was $5 or $5000.
The pressure to conceal his addiction increased as his family grew.
The father-of-three said he was desperate to hide the reality of his losses from his partner and family.
Juggling family responsibilities meant he had limited time to gamble – which only increased the size of his bets.
“You just did whatever you had to do to survive without people finding out.
“I had times in Melbourne when I would get paid and it would literally be gone in a day.
“When you have a family that’s when it’s more destructive because it affects other people - but addiction doesn’t get easier because you have more responsibility.”
The only way he could stop gambling and begin repairing the damage from years of concealing his losses was to quit outright.
“My first meeting at GA I was standing shaking outside the door.
“When it’s become your whole life it’s a really big step to do something about it.”
Being open about his addiction gave Mr Davies the support he needed to quit and since then friends have opened up to him about their own problems.
“Ninety nine per cent of my friendships and relationships have got stronger and better because you’re being honest with them and they’re respectful of what you’re doing and what you’ve done.”
Sports betting has changed a lot since he first had a “pint and a punt” at 18, Mr Davies said.
“I see kids at cricket, 18-year-olds putting bets on during games on their phone.
“I could never have done that as a kid, so I think the problem will get worse.
A new generation harmed
An exploding uptake in sports wagering among young men is producing a new generation harmed by gambling, a leading researcher has said.
Sports wagering is the fastest growing form of gambling in the country, having increased about 15 per cent each year for the past five years.
The industry’s intensive marketing is aimed at young men, who are also the fastest growing group of consumers, Monash University’s Charles Livingstone said.
“The total market for sports wagering is worth about $750 million so people will have lost at least $750 million wagering by the year’s end,” he said.
“Compared to pokies that’s pretty tiny but it’s a whole new demographic, it’s a whole new way of gambling - it’s almost certainly going to produce a whole new generation of people harmed by gambling.”
Anecdotal evidence from gambling counselors indicated a rise in the number of young men with gambling problems related to sports wagering, Dr Livingstone, who is a senior lecturer at the university’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said.
“We do know that the participation gambling rates amongst young men is increasing in this area, it’s doubled in the past couple of years and amongst people who gamble on sports online there is a higher propensity for gambling problem,” he said.
“The people experiencing harm from sports betting is on par with the proportion of the people experiencing harm from pokies.”
Although sports betting is yet to rival Australian’s losses on poker machines, the two forms of gambling target different demographics, and the uptake of both is rising, Dr Livingstone.
In the last financial year Victorians lost $2.6 billion on the state's poker machines, primarily in disadvantaged areas.
Betting companies particularly target young men during sports broadcasts, through team sponsorship and an omnipresence in pubs and clubs.
Poker machines meanwhile have been shown to be concentrated in lower socioeconomic areas – so growth in one form of gambling has no impact by way of a decline in uptake of the other, he said.
Dr Livingstone called on the federal government to impose uniform taxation and regulation of gambling companies.
"This is an area if we were proactive we could get in front of the wave for a change and actually stop it before it gets too bad.”
Ads normalise gambling for kids: Grills
Stories of children reciting betting odds and using their parents’ credit card to access gambling apps have spurred advocates to call for a blanket ban on sports betting ads before 9pm.
University of Melbourne’s Dr Nathan Grills is pushing for a ban on gambling advertising during programs aimed at families, including all sports broadcasts, similar to the ban in effect for children’s programs.
“We need to start considering that the football on a Sunday afternoon is targeted at kids and families,” Dr Grills said.
“A kid as young as eight can name multiple brands of betting agencies and they can tell you very clearly the plot lines of the ads, they have a very strong recall of what’s being sold in the gambling advertisements.
“The anecdotal evidence shows there are kids who get access to gambling apps and it isn’t that difficult to get access to a credit card, it doesn’t take much to lie about your age and to be able to bet online.”
The saturated sports marketplace also normalised gambling for children and made it harder to distinguish when a person’s gambling had become problematic, Dr Grills said.
Currently the commercial industry code prohibits gambling advertising during any program classified G, C or P between 6am and 8.30am and 4pm and 7pm on any day.
Gambling ads are also prohibited between 5am and 8.30pm on any program “principally directed” at children.
That compares to a general restriction on alcohol advertising to M or MA 15+ time zones, from which weekend and public holiday sports broadcasts are exempt.
Both the Victorian state government and the Australian Communications and Media Authority have stated their support for a bipartisan, whole of government approach to the regulation of gambling advertising.
Need help?
Gamblers Anonymous meetings are on Wednesdays between 7pm and 8.30pm at the Eastwood Leisure Centre. Entry is via the Short Street ramp.
People can attend meetings or phone Carol on 0402 599 671.
Help is also available via the Gamblers Anonymous helpline on 9696 6108.
Child and Family Services Ballarat offer financial counselling and gambler’s help services on 5337 3333.
Gamblers Help Line operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 1800 858 858.