The one-metre long relatives of this snappy croc at the Koorana Crocodile Farm, near Rockhampton, helped test the betting risks of potential gamblers.
Flickr/Michael Gorey
Research that studied the pokie risks gamblers were prepared to take after they held a live crocodile has been awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.
About 39.1% of Australians typically gamble on a monthly basis: most of them buy lottery products.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Gambling has impacts on many aspects of life – including employment, income and wealth. The release of HILDA’s latest survey provides more evidence to help inform decisions on gambling policy.
Sydney’s Lance Franklin is a popular choice for many fantasy AFL coaches.
AAP/David Moir
Fantasy sports began as a niche hobby for statistically inclined sports fanatics. But, with the internet, it has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Pokie losses in Australia’s pubs and clubs increased fourfold between 1990 and 2000.
AAP/Paul Jeffers
For some people, fixed-odds betting terminals are ferociously addictive, producing big profits for bookies and a rise in problem gambling. What’s the solution?
Logos of betting companies and the odds on sporting outcomes are now impossible to avoid, at the ground or on TV.
AAP/Julian Smith
There is reason to suggest new reforms, such a banning credit bets and establishing a self-exclusion register, will have some impact in helping to tackle problem gambling online.
A new book tells a detailed story of how policy decisions about pokies are actually made.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
In Tasmania, a changing cast of actors has colluded to grant extreme riches to a single family, extracted in large part from the state’s most disadvantaged citizens.
Nick Xenophon is again pushing for a ban on gambling ads during TV sport broadcasts.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The gambling industry continues to make handsome donations to our politicians, and recently named some of those it supports.
William Hill is among the online bookies to be registered in the Northern Territory, where the tax and regulatory environment is more favourable.
AAP/Lukas Coch
No state wants to see its revenue base decline – particularly when the jurisdiction benefiting doesn’t even tax (or regulate) its bookies as well as it might.
Pokies are great money-spinners for hotels, clubs and casinos in Australia, and increasingly internationally.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
The harm pokies cause is widespread and tends to affect those already under significant stress. $1 bets are a good first step toward reducing this harm.
You are far more likely to die driving to buy your ticket than you are to actually win first division in the lottery.
EPA/Erik S. Lesser
The gambling industry certainly holds an attraction for former politicians. Perhaps it’s all that money, and the attraction of staying in the game – even if at a peripheral level.
Domestic violence impacts should be considered when regulators make decisions about granting licenses for poker machines.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
While it is up for debate as to whether there are questions to be answered about various industry tactics and links to politicians, what isn’t a secret is how poker machines actually work.
Sports betting in Australia has been growing rapidly in recent years – all that advertising seems to be paying off.
AAP/Julian Smith
Polls suggest that Nick Xenophon’s team will win a bag of Senate seats. Along with a re-elected Andrew Wilkie, and the Greens, will there be enthusiasm for gambling reform in the next parliament?