A dozen public health experts have accused gambling companies of replicating the tactics of big tobacco by funding research into the harms they cause while lobbying governments to soften regulation.
The academics have co-written an editorial, published in the journal Health Promotion International, urging governments to approach wagering companies in the same way they deal with the tobacco industry, due to harms associated with gambling addiction.
“The commercial gambling industry operates from a similar playbook to other health-harming industries, such as tobacco and alcohol,” the journal article said.
“This involves delaying and circumventing regulation, developing innovative products and promotions, appealing to new markets, co-opting the production of research and knowledge and capturing ‘public health’ responses through corporate political activities.”
The academics from Australia, the United Kingdom and Africa said there was “ample evidence to show the significant negative health and social consequences of gambling not only for individuals who gamble, but also for families and communities”.
Last week, a landmark study of Victorian coroner’s court data found gambling addiction had contributed to 184 suicides over eight years. The vast majority of cases involved men aged between 17 and 44.
An estimated 1.3m people in Australia experience gambling harm. The consequences can include debt and other financial repercussions, problems with time management, relationship breakdowns, physical or psychological health issues, serious legal tangles and more.
The academics, who include Samantha Thomas from Deakin University and Sean Cowlishaw from Monash University, referenced the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control, which requires governments to “protect their public health policies related to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry”.
“In the absence of such protections, the [gambling] industry has lobbied all levels of government with few constraints and regularly funds academic research through industry-funded, third-party organisations that are often registered as charities,” the article said.
In recent months, gambling companies and the peak body, Responsible Wagering Australia, have been lobbying the federal government to water down the recommendations of a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling, which produced “powerful evidence” of community harm.
Last month, two of Australia’s biggest sports gambling companies, Sportsbet and Entain Australia, funded the creation of a new gambling research centre at the University of Sydney. The centre is also bankrolled by the International Centre for Responsible Gaming, which lists the world’s biggest casinos among its sponsors.
The Australian Medical Association, the Greens and multiple crossbench MPs have criticised the funding arrangement as inappropriate, “tone deaf” and “utterly appalling” given community concerns about gambling harm and called for the money to be returned.
The university has defended the sponsorship and a spokesperson said the partnership would deliver more useful research informed by de-identified data supplied by gambling companies. It also said bookmakers would not be given any opportunity to “constrain or edit the research in any way”.
The gambling companies funding the research centre have also rejected claims they are trying to produce favourable research.
The academics did not mention the University of Sydney funding deal, but they allege similar arrangements have been used by the gambling industry to shape public opinion and policy.
“Any efforts to counter the commercial gambling industry must apply the same scrupulousness that we apply to the tobacco industry and how we interact with it, or not,” the article said.
“This includes rejecting commercial gambling industry research funding and partnership, whether direct or indirect through its front groups and educational initiatives, and avoiding any involvement in industry funded and organised events other than clearly defined observational research.”
Dr May van Schalkwyk, an honorary research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said governments should restrict the influence of gambling companies on policy.
She told Guardian Australia: “We need to completely rethink how we regulate this industry so that science and public health policy making are protected from undue influence and the public is protected from unnecessarily harmful products and practices.”
