The Mega Millions lotto pot for Jan. 15 is the second largest it’s ever been. Taxes on the lotto go to state governments, but often the money isn’t spent in quite the way it’s supposed to be.
Addiction remains shrouded in stigma, while the system through which we provide addiction treatment in Australia is fragmented and failing. There’s no better time to address these issues.
Pokie venues are starting to reopen across the country. For at-risk gamblers, this is a worrying time as they emerge from a long compulsory break from playing.
With perhaps months stuck at home due to coronavirus, gamblers may be tempted to engage more heavily in online betting. New regulations are urgently needed to restrict online bet sizes and credit card use.
Accessing gambling and pornography sites may well get harder in Australia, if plans for mandatory age-verification go ahead. But there are already technical workarounds for determined web users.
Philip Mosley, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
About one in six people who take the most common medication for Parkinson’s disease will develop addictive behaviours. We found whether this happens depends on a person’s unique brain structure.
Professor of Economics and Finance. Director of the Betting Research Unit and the Political Forecasting Unit at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University