Risky Bets !

Today is the AFL  Grand Final and the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs will do battle at the MCG.   Tomorrow is the turn of Rugby League and the Cronulla Sharks will meet the Melbourne Storm in Sydney - and  November is Australia's biggest sporting event when the horses line up for the Melbourne Cup.

The clash of football codes will be very much a Sydney/Melbourne contest for those who do not closely follow either sport.  The Sydney Swans will find massive home territory support for their rivals and the reverse is expected when the Cronulla Sharks run onto the field.

Traditionally, both these grand finals and the Melbourne cup will have a maximum television audience right across Australia, and these are events that are usually viewed with a beer in hand.  There is a risk that the excitement of the game and the consequent consumption of alcohol is going to induce some followers to place bets that they will afterwards regret.

This past year has seen a massive increase in betting advertising on TV.  International bookmakers are now permitted to field in Australia and many of the old restrictions have been swept away.  It is now permissible to have a betting account that can be accessed by Smartphone.  A few clicks on the handset - and that stake is subtracted from the users balance

Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that a proportion of the public have the genes that result in them becoming problem gamblers - just as genes induce some people to become alcoholics.  We are now seeing a flood of SPAM from Internet casinos and much of this offers complimentary free bets or free rolls of the dice as an attraction.   Of course to access this largess the entrant is required to lodge full details and establish a betting account - to deposit the winnings from those free bets.

In the distant past, the government placed restrictions on all forms of gambling.  Here in New South Wales a state lottery was only approved when the profits were promised to go to hospitals and the Sydney Opera House was financed by a Jackpot lottery.   For many years the only legal way to place a bet was to go to a race course and place it in person with an attending bookmaker.

Of course this spawned the era of the SP bookmaker and just about every pub had an illegal bookie operating from the back bar, and eventually the state lamented the tax it was missing and licensed the TAB.   This required each punter to physically attend a TAB or an other licensed venue, fill out a betting slip and place it in the machine.   The state intent was to make sure that betting was "not too easy " !

One of the perils of phone betting is the inability to enforce age restrictions.  A ban is enforced on those under eighteen and those entering a TAB may be challenged and required to provide proof of age, but many establish a betting account with the help of a parent or an older sibling.  Once established, they are just an account number to the betting company.

There is no doubt that these two grand finals will result in a betting splurge of monumental proportions and the Melbourne cup on the first Tuesday in November will most likely exceed that again.    We live in the age of instant gratification, but the gambling doors have been opened wide and for those with the complicit genes that can spell disaster !