For many people, Melbourne cup day is the only time they bet during the year. But gambling researchers say the 'race that stops the nation' could lure new punters into regular betting habits.
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TVTranscript
00:00 I think it's an opportunity when we have the Melbourne Cup and the Spring Racing Carnival
00:07 that first time bettors are going onto apps because it's convenient, they don't have to
00:14 drive to a betting shop and do it, so they can take an app, they think they're going
00:17 to just have one bet, but then once they've signed onto the app, the betting company has
00:23 all their details and they can then use that to keep targeting them for more opportunities
00:30 to bet.
00:31 So it's people who are betting online who are at risk rather than those who go into
00:35 a betting shop?
00:37 Look, I think everyone has the potential to be at risk from gambling, but the difference
00:42 I guess from going into a betting shop, you have to take your time.
00:45 You might need to drive there, you'll potentially go with cash, you'll take your time to place
00:50 the bet, so it's a whole process.
00:53 The immediacy of online gambling means that you can have a bet within minutes.
01:01 So it's a real attraction for people thinking, well this is more convenient, we live in a
01:06 convenient world now, so it's easy to download the app and do it, but they don't realise
01:12 that it won't just be a one-off event because they'll keep getting messages from the gambling
01:18 companies and they may just have one more and then a cycle begins.
01:23 So according to your research, how vulnerable are younger people to getting hooked on betting?
01:30 They're vulnerable.
01:31 We've been doing some research now with young people, so we've had a series of focus groups
01:38 and they've talked about their exposure to gambling and just recently in the last couple
01:42 of weeks we had a workshop with young people and we asked them to go and collect any ads
01:47 that they came across on their social media and we found that they were getting really
01:55 interesting ads that are very appealing to children, so it's illegal for the gambling
01:59 companies to target their ads towards children, but children are on Snapchat, they're on TikTok
02:05 and they're using things like filters which are fun and young people are really interested
02:10 in.
02:11 It does have the potential of putting them into risky behaviour because they can see
02:15 they might have a quick win with race betting, people think there's an element of skill,
02:20 they may never have looked at a horse before or know the jockeys but they think they hear
02:25 the punters talking about the odds and they think they've got a sure bet.
02:29 So even though they might not have the funds to do it, they still could think this is the
02:34 time for them to have their once a year bet and they could come in with a win despite
02:40 not maybe having enough food to put on the table or other things that are just costing
02:45 more and more money.
02:46 So it can be a risky time for people to think that they've got a good opportunity to make
02:52 some money.
02:53 Louise Francis, thank you so much.
02:57 Thank you.
02:59 And if this story has raised any issues for you, you can get help by calling the Gambler's
03:03 Helpline at 1800 858 858 or go to gamblershelp.com.au.
03:11 There's also help available at the National Debt Helpline and that's on 1800 007 007.
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