$31.5 billion lost in 2024 — more than Australians spent on electricity and gas combined. The 31 recommendations of the 2023 federal inquiry ignored for three years. MMP bans gambling advertising Day 1, enacts all 31, removes pokies from pubs on the WA model, and makes the machines fund their own removal.
In 2024, Australians lost $31.5 billion gambling — more than they spent on electricity and gas combined. Gambling losses rose faster than wages, faster than inflation, faster than housing costs. The industry treats the loss column as revenue. The hospital, the family court, the homelessness service, and the police pick up the wreckage. The federal government pays for that wreckage. The industry pays for none of it.
Western Australia never allowed pokies in pubs and clubs — machines have always been casino-only. The result: one-third less gambling harm than the rest of Australia. Gamblers in WA who want to play a poker machine have to make a deliberate decision to enter a casino. That single design difference produces a third of the harm. The rest of Australia chose to put predatory machines into the venues people walk past every day.
Pokies are not neutral entertainment. They are predatory machines, deliberately engineered for compulsive use — speed, near-miss psychology, sensory capture, suppression of rational decision-making. The industry knows. The regulators know. The state governments that license them know. They are running a slow-motion mass-harm campaign on Australian families, funded by Australian families, regulated by no-one.
MMP bans all gambling advertising Day 1. Every platform, every medium, every timeslot. No TV, radio, digital, or social ads. No sponsorship deals with sporting codes. No influencer promotion. No odds during live broadcasts. Children watching football will no longer see gambling as a normal feature of the sport. This is a federal power. MMP uses it immediately.
All 31 recommendations of the 2023 federal inquiry enacted Day 1. Mandatory pre-commitment limits. Account verification — no unverified accounts, no minors. Credit card ban. Spending spike 150% above average triggers a harm check. Midnight–5am betting triggers review. Cancelled limits trigger 48-hour wait. The inquiry did the work. MMP enacts it.
Pokies belong in licensed casinos where adults make a deliberate decision to enter a gambling venue. Not the pub, the RSL, or the sports club. MMP funds the transition: tiered compensation to venues that remove machines, staff retraining, transition grants to build alternative revenue through food, events, and hospitality. Pubs and clubs become what they were before pokies: community venues.
States that commit to a legislated timeline to remove pokies access the Gambling Harm Transition Fund. States that keep pokies fund the harm costs. The Commonwealth contributes $33.9 billion to state hospitals. Every gambling addict in emergency, every family in a DV shelter linked to gambling — Commonwealth-funded. MMP publishes the cost by state, makes the offer, and lets the public see who chose what.
20% on casino gross gaming revenue — $800M–1B per year, hypothecated to the Gambling Harm Transition Fund. Compensation to pubs that remove pokies; staff retraining; counselling. Clears most states in 7–10 years. As pub machines exit, casino revenue and the levy grow. The machines fund their own removal.
20% on gross wagering revenue — not net, gross. Closes the base erosion that let offshore operators minimise Australian tax for 20 years. Online wagering gross revenue: $7–8B per year. Levy: $1.4–1.6B annually. Split equally: half to the Gambling Harm Transition Fund; half to the Racing Industry Sustainability Fund. The bookmakers fund the harm and the industry they extract from.
Casinos retained — but redefined as the front line of harm minimisation, not its source. Mandatory pre-commitment. Mandatory exclusion enforcement. On-site counselling. Loss limits enforced across operators. The casino licence becomes contingent on demonstrably preventing harm, not generating it.
Racing industry sustained without subsidies disguised as tax breaks. Half the corporate bookmaker levy hypothecated to a Racing Industry Sustainability Fund — independent of state and territory racing bodies, with public reporting. The industry pays for its own future from its own revenue.
| Current — The Failure | MMP — The Solution |
|---|---|
| $31.5B lost in 2024 — more than power and gas combined. | Ads banned Day 1. All 31 inquiry recommendations enacted. Pokies out of pubs. |
| 31 recommendations of the 2023 inquiry ignored for 3 years. | All 31 legislated Day 1 — federal MPs have voted; the recommendations exist. |
| Pokies in pubs and clubs. NSW and Victoria carry the harm. | WA model nationally. Pokies casino-only. Pubs return to community function. |
| Gambling addiction wreckage funded by hospitals, courts, DV services. | 20% casino levy + 20% bookmaker levy. Industry funds its own wreckage. |
| Online wagering eroding tax base through offshore structures. | 20% on gross wagering revenue — not net. $1.4–1.6B/yr captured. |
| Children grow up seeing gambling as normal part of sport. | No gambling ads. No sponsorship. No odds during live sport. Generational change. |
No memos pinned to this policy yet. When an MMP memo on this topic is published, it will appear here with a short summary. The full memo index is at moralmajority.com.au/memos.html.