Time for Gambling Reform
CATHEDRAL NEWSLETTER - 13 March 2025
Friends in Christ, we know a federal election is not too far off. No doubt you have some key issues you will consider before casting your vote.
Mine is a varied list. There are obvious things like the cost of living, housing affordability, and how our governments seem to spend more than they raise in revenue. There's the tricky mix of climate change policies alongside energy affordability and reliability. I care about restoring sex-based rights for women (e.g. in sport, education, refuges) that can seem a bit hot to handle, but can affect ordinary people. And there are matters like euthanasia, where the horse seems to have bolted. Perhaps you have children younger stage than mine, or grandchildren, and you worry their education, or what they are exposed to online. My own parents are growing more frail, so I think about aged care.
One thing I will definitely continue to advocate for is gambling reform at the state (pokies) and federal (sports bet ad) levels.
At the state level, to minimise harm, we want universal cashless gambling cards with mandatory loss limits (these are already working in casinos in Melbourne and Sydney). We also want the parliament to insist that poker machines in pubs and clubs be switched off at midnight, rather than 3 or 4am, because problem gambling patterns accelerate after midnight.
At the federal level, I will be writing to the Leaders of Labor and Liberal asking what their policy is - after more than 18 months of delay - on implementing the unanimous Murphy Inquiry recommendations... Especially the phase out of all online sports bet and other gambling advertising from TV, streaming services, and at sports grounds and on player uniforms! And I will write to ask independent MPs to make substantial implementation of Murphy one of their not-negotiable conditions of support for any minority government that might form.
You might wonder why an Anglican minister focuses on this so often. Firstly, it came from first hand pastoral experience of the absolute misery caused by gambling harm to people in local parish churches I've served. How can I not care about that? (I have previously written about the ethics of gambling here.)
It also comes from the second great command identified by Jesus: to love your neighbour as yourself. And his parable of the Good Samaritan reminds me that my neighbour is anyone in need that I can help.
Last year, we preached through 1 John. These words from chapter three ring in my ears:
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? [1 John 3:16-17]
I see advocacy for gambling harm reduction as one social application of God's word that I can make from my position. In a parliamentary democracy, we as citizens, are encouraged to participate.
It's also an issue of economic wellbeing. A million dollars every hour of every day – that's how much we, the people of NSW, are losing on the pokies! A new report from Equity Economics shows gambling losses are a bigger drain on the household budget than the cost of electricity and gas. Australia’s staggering annual gambling losses of $31.5 billion eclipses what the Federal Government spends on aged care!
This wasted money is money that could have been spent more productively on housing, paying utilities, buying groceries, or assisting kids with their education... Or even eating out - since dollars spent in the hospitality industry sees more people employed as a by-product than the same amount spent on gambling.
Maybe you might be moved to write to your MP asking about their policy position on this issue – state MPs for pokies; federal MPs for the sports bet ban?
Or maybe there is another issue you would like to write to your MP about. That would be good too. Every little effort helps.
And at the same time, please pray for all those in authority, for the persoinal welfare in a hard job, as well as for good and just policy-making.
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney