Gaming companies, including Tabcorp and Sportsbet, have been accused of offering drugs, escorts and thousands of dollars a week in inducements to keep big-spending gamblers punting.

Alliance for Gambling Reform boss Tim Costello said gaming company account managers would work out people’s vulnerabilities and exploit them. He named TAB and Sportsbet among those offering drugs and escorts, and said he was conveying the experience of an individual, who is currently serving a jail sentence.

Costello was speaking at a Senate inquiry probing the Albanese government’s proposed gambling reform legislation.

Also at the inquiry, was former NRL player Luke Bateman. He said as a 23-year-old, he was often invited to VIP events across the country and in one case did drugs with the bosses of one unnamed sports betting company at a party on the Gold Coast, according to the AFR.

Bateman said he was absolutely a willing participant, but he was being influenced by people in power. Sportsbet and Tabcorp have not commented on the accusations.

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Greed-o-meter

Australia's housing downturn has widened. Sydney and Melbourne are still leading the way, but previously resilient markets including Brisbane, Adelaide and regional Australia are now trending down, according to Cotality.

Source: Cotality

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On Bitcoin, why regulation is actually a competitive advantage, and how Australia's crypto industry has matured: 

 

“Since 2022, when Coinbase formally entered the Australian market, we've really seen the industry grow up. We onboarded millions of customers through very robust know-your-customer, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing processes. We hired compliance, legal, finance, accounting and governance teams because that's what being part of the traditional financial system requires.

 

More recently, we became one of the first overseas exchanges to receive an Australian Financial Services Licence. That's a major milestone because it brings us under ASIC's regulatory guardrails. To get an AFSL takes millions of dollars in compliance obligations and people. We've gone from more than four hundred registered crypto businesses under the old regime to probably forty serious players today. The industry's really consolidated and everyone's getting a lot more serious.”

News in brief

Just under half of June quarter new car sales were electric or hybrid, with battery powered vehicles comprising 21 per cent of sales, plug in hybrids accounting for 11 per cent, and hybrids making up 17 per cent.

Private equity group Pacific Equity Partners plans to merge the country’s two largest vehicle fleet management companies, after offering a $770 million bid to acquire ASX-listed FleetPartners.

A consortium including PE giant KKR will go ahead with its $7.7 billion buyout of Steadfast, following an eight-week due diligence of the insurance broker and underwriting agency.

UK drugmaker AstraZeneca is in talks to combine with US rival Bristol Myers Squibb in a deal that would create one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical groups, valued at nearly $US400bn.

Being poor can cause long-term damage to your brain according to a new study. British scientists examined a group of more than 2,700 people who were all born in March 1946, meaning they are now 80 years old.

Fear-o-meter

The federal government is in for a mighty fight over its gaming legislation. The problem for many is it isn’t tough enough.

The proposed legislation restricts gambling ads to three per hour between 6am and 8pm on television, with a complete ban during live sport shown between those hours, while there will be restrictions on social media advertising, and no advertising allowed during school drop-off and pick-up times.

Celebrities and athletes would also be banned from appearing in gambling ads and odds-style promotions targeting sports fans.

Critics say the planned changes don’t go far enough. And a report by the late MP Peta Murphy three years ago recommended the government go much further.

It is a very difficult issue for the government, given gambling is legal (unlike illicit drugs).

Australian Institute research says Australians lost $32 billion to gambling last year – more than they spent on electricity and gas, and more than they spent on alcohol. Gambling has many non-financial implications as well.

$32 billion to the gaming companies means it’s big business, and they spend hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising, of which the majority goes to free-to-air TV, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority. That amount of money can mean the difference between a viable and non-viable business.

Plus the government gets a cut of betting revenue. According to racing newsletter The Straight, state and territory governments collect over $10.5 billion in gambling taxes. That sounds a bit high but maybe if you add racing, Keno, pokies, lotto and everything else it gets there.

The federal government is in for a fight.

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