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Sports wagerers with debts of tens of thousands of dollars are regularly presenting to Child and Family Services Ballarat, the service said.
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Every two to four weeks a person will seek help with debts which are “out of control for their stage of life” because of compulsive sports betting, CAFS financial counselling coordinator Colin Handreck said.
In the last month Mr Handreck has helped two men – both of whom compulsively bet on sports online –manage debts as high as $45,000.
The amount Australians are losing on sports betting is increasing by 28 per cent a year – and anecdotal evidence suggests the fastest growing demographic is young men.
It is also the fastest growing form of gambling in Australia.
One man who came to CAFS for financial counselling had racked up $45,000 on his wife’s credit card after his own had been cancelled with a $20,000 debt.
Another has put his family home on the market to pay off $37,000 in gambling debts.
“By the time they come to us they’re in arrears,” Mr Handreck said.
“At that stage there’s assets at risk, there’s potentially relationships at risk.
“Often it’s the partner that comes in first, it’s often the person who has the problem isn’t willing to identify it as a problem.
“Sometimes we see them at the other end, their car has been repossessed. It’s too late to revive the previous circumstance but it’s not too late for a new start.”
Mr Handreck said online gambling, including sports betting, was beginning to cause harm on a scale comparable to poker machines.
“A couple of times a year we have people come in and they've literally had their house repossessed or refinanced to cover their gambling debts.
“Online is the new form of particularly insidious gambling, you can lose your house without leaving your house.”
Concerns have also been raised about how a saturation of sports wagering advertising is affecting children’s perception of sport and gambling.
Last year the state government proposed a ban on sports betting ads on public transport and near schools.
A decision on the proposal will be made by Gaming Minister Marlene Kairouz in the coming months, a spokesperson said.
- Gamblers Help 24 Hour Helpline is 1800 858 858.
- CAFS provides Gamblers Help Therapeutic Counselling and free financial counselling. Contact CAFS on 5337 3333 or email intake@cafs.org.au.