A recent ABC News article delved into the story of an anonymous gambling addiction victim who shared his experiences, revealing the lack of player protection mechanisms in many Australian jurisdictions. His recovery story can be a valuable lesson for Australian authorities as they rally to bring order to the country’s gambling sector and introduce measures to curb rapidly rising gambling addiction rates.

Australia Remains Wracked with Problem Gambling

Michael, a 45-year-old Queensland resident, shared his unfortunate experiences after he placed his first bet on a horse race at age 17. The following decades of addiction saw him suffer from bankruptcy and heartbreak as his life hit rock bottom. Michael managed to recover and remains an active member of Gamblers Anonymous, but highlighted several concerning industry trends.

Michael voiced concerns about the accessibility of gambling to young people, especially with rampant advertising. He noted that the introduction of online wagering had made it easier than ever to get hooked, advocating for limited or complete gambling advertising bans and emphasizing the importance of support systems like Gamblers Anonymous. His opinions align with many industry experts who believe it is time for urgent change.

There are five times as many gambling ads on TV for sports or race betting than there are alcohol ads.

Alex Russell, CQUniversity Gambling Research Laboratory academic 

The federal government conducted an inquiry in late June, revealing Australians as the world’s highest per capita spenders on gambling, losing $25 billion annually. The study recommended a phased ban on all gambling advertising across states and territories within three years, citing concerns about grooming children into gamblers.

The Government Has Been Slow to Respond

Despite evidence of rising gambling harm, the Australian federal government has not enacted any advertising recommendations and is still deliberating its response. The Alliance for Gambling Reform, through chief advocate Tim Costello, urges swift action, accusing the delay of signaling a cozy relationship between the government and the betting industry.

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth and Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland issued a joint statement, expressing the government’s intent to consider the report’s recommendations and collaborate with stakeholders for a response. However, the gambling industry remains reluctant to reduce advertising without regulation, citing fears of losing out to competitors.

We need a more coordinated approach to reducing gambling advertising that’s fair for everyone.

Alex Russell, CQUniversity Gambling Research Laboratory academic

Michael’s story emphasizes the urgent need for regulatory action, not just for those currently afflicted by gambling addiction but also to safeguard the future generation. While Australia has achieved some progress, problem gambling remains a rising concern. Decisive action and new, effective regulations remain the only feasible option to combat this pervasive issue.

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40-year-old Luke Ashton, a father of two, took his own life in April 2021 while fighting his severe gambling addiction which had caused him to lose £5,000 ($6,400) during just one month. One of the gaming operators that Asthon had frequently used since 2012, Betfair, has now admitted that its protection systems have failed to identify the player as an “at-risk gambler.”

In a historic decision, Betfair has been called an “interested person” in the inquest, which is a first in the industry. The company admitted it “should have done more” to protect the vulnerable player who died on April 22, 2021, after he was “consumed” by his addiction. 

Up to 100 Bets a Day

Before losing the large amount during a single month, Ashton had made a habit out of gambling up to 100 times a day. The player preferred the operator’s Exchange platform to bet on horse and greyhound racing events that took place in the UK as well as abroad. 

Betfair describes Exchange as an option that is “generally more low risk” and also one that is used by “sophisticated and highly-skilled” players. In January 2019, Ashton was averaging 55 daily bets. 

During the remainder of the same year, according to the hearing held at the coroner’s office for Leicester and South Leicestershire, Ashton took out £18,000 ($23,000) in total loans in an attempt to clear his debts. 

His addiction peaked in March 2021, when he reached 1,229 bets. March was also the month when he made a £2,500 ($3,200) deposit in a single day.

While the family had to sell their home, Ashton didn’t manage to set himself free of his addiction and continued to frequent a number of gambling websites in the month prior to his demise.

Failing Machine-Learning Algorithm

During the second day of the hearing held earlier in the week, the Flutter-owned operator used the voice of managing director Richard Clarke to admit that their algorithm which is based on machine learning did not identify Ashton as a high-risk gambler. 

The algorithm that is used to closely track customer data is supposed to identify the behavior of players who had used the self-exclusion option from the operator’s platform for six months. 

Ashton used the same exclusion option in 2013, 2014, and 2016. Nonetheless, the algorithm was not able to deem him at high-risk and issue a permanent ban on him.

While Clarke expressed confidence in the company’s compliance with the current regulations, he added that by looking at the player’s activity in March 2021, “it does look like we should’ve done more.”

“Things Have Changed a Lot”

Betfair’s managing director also told the hearing that approximately 10,000 of their customers had placed more bets than Ashton in March 2021, which coincided with the grand opening of the horse racing season.

Since then, added Clarke, a series of changes had been put into practice. Among them, the implementation of a strict £500 ($640) monthly deposit limit for players under the age of 25, a £10 ($12.80) maximum stake limit on all slots, and a monthly net deposit limit for all returning customers at the end of a self-exclusion period, after a detailed assessment via phone.

Clarke also mentioned financial vulnerability checks via third-party reference agencies as an additional prevention measure. 

Mr Nicholls, who represented Ashton’s family during the hearing, said Betfair should have excluded the victim from their website. The inquest will be resumed on June 16.

In April, Betfair was fined for offering markets for 148 matches between 2021 and 2022 for the U21 Allsvenskan, a youth soccer league on which operators are forbidden to offer wagering. 
In May, the National Health Service in the UK revealed that, based on its Problem Gambling Severity Index scores, around 0.3% of gambling adults were labeled as problem gamblers and 2.8% of adults were found at risk to engage in problem gambling.

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A woman who squandered more than £3.5 million ($4.35 million) while spread betting and lied about her debts to escape bankruptcy was spared prison on Friday after being found guilty of making a false representation.

Gambling Her Way Out of Debt

Juliana ‘Leah’ Posman, a 43-year-old Indonesian-born businesswoman accumulated huge debts while catering to her gambling addiction of betting on the movements of the German DAX stock market index, and then lied to her creditors about her debt, reported Daily Mail.

Seeking to avoid bankruptcy, Posman signed an individual voluntary arrangement with her creditors to repay her debts over time but deliberately failed to declare that she already had £91,646.93 debt with her previous broker, CMC Spread Bet, while continuing to spread bet with another.

Arrested and charged with making a false representation for the purpose of obtaining approval of creditors, Posman appeared before Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex on Friday.

Andrew Herd, prosecuting, claimed that Posman’s action was “a calculated omission” as not including the information about her debt even when advised to make a full disclosure was “motivated by the financial and practical benefits of avoiding bankruptcy.”

A spokesperson for the Insolvency Service stated that Posman “sought to flagrantly abuse the bankruptcy process and leave creditors out of pocket by taking out the individual voluntary arrangement without disclosing the significant debt from her gambling account.”

“This is a serious offense and her conviction should serve as a warning to anyone else that trying to escape debts in this way is wholly unacceptable,” the Insolvency Service spokesperson concluded.

After jurors unanimously found her guilty of a single charge of making a false representation, Judge Stephen Mooney sentenced her to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. Mooney also ordered Posman to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and attend 20 hours of rehabilitation related to her gambling addiction.

She seems to be addicted to spread betting which is very high risk and she tried to gamble her way out of it. That’s a classic trait in someone who is addicted to gambling.

Judge Stephen Mooney

Posman Fleeced Her Husband and Parents-in-Law

For Posman, who is the ex-wife of Christopher Forte, a distant relative of the Forte hotel family, falling into debt is nothing new as her gambling addiction began showing its ugly head soon after her marriage in 2014 when she began asking her husband for large sums of money.

She claimed she needed the money to build her bank account with assets of her own but in 2016 her husband received a letter informing him that she had borrowed £2.5 million ($3.1 million) and had told her lenders that he would guarantee the loans for which he knew nothing about.

Posman then admitted she had lost several million while spread betting and had given £250,000 ($310,500) to her parents and £750,000 ($931,500) to her brother. Moved by her tearful pleas for money, her husband had lent her £45,000 ($55,890) while his parents had lent her their life savings, £131,330 ($163,111).

Following the couple’s divorce in 2017, Posman pledged to return the money by paying £1,700 a month.

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A month ago, Los Angeles lawyer Sara King made headlines after using a $10 million business investment to live in luxury. Now, amid an ongoing lawsuit, King claims that her husband, the Iranian royal Kamran Pahlavi, forced her to waste the money, The Daily Beast reported.

Thanks to her relationship with Pahlavi, King was introduced to the Swiss banker Laurent Reiss. Reiss, though his LDR International company, provided King’s personal business, King Family Lending (KFL), with a $10.2 million investment.

KFL allowed customers to receive quick cash for collateral such as cars, jewelry and luxurious items.

However, King did not use the money to fund third-party loans, as originally agreed with Reiss. Instead, LDR International alleges, the woman used the money to move into the Wynn Las Vegas resort and live and gamble there for half a year.

As a result, LDR International launched a lawsuit against King. The prosecution claims that King had a gambling problem and would bet ludicrous amounts of money on slots in Vegas. Amid the ongoing lawsuit, King came forward with a new claim, saying that it was, in fact, Pehlavi who forced her to do all of this.

Pehlavi is the grandson of the Shah’s twin, Princess Ashraf. According to King and her defense, the Iranian royalty understood that his wife was good at slots and made her play. The woman’s attorneys allege that she loved her husband so much that she didn’t question him and kept on playing.
According to the defense, Pahlavi hoped that King, who allegedly called herself “the slots whisperer,” would earn money to cover a debt to LDR International.

“She Ruined My Life and Now This?”

Pahlavi was outraged by King’s claims. In an interview with The Daily Beast, he slammed his wife’s allegations and said that she was an addict. Pahlavi noted that forcing someone to gamble is a ludicrous idea and noted that he find it difficult to get his wife off the machines.

What kind of a person would push his wife to gamble with his best friend’s money? How does that make any sense?

Kamran Pahlavi

Pahlavi noted that King continued to play even when he wasn’t around.

The Iranian royal says that he has now moved to Morocco to escape from King. He has filed for divorce and hopes to cut his ties with his problem gambler wife.

“She betrayed me. Lied to me. Stole from me. Embarrassed me. Humiliated me. That’s not bad for a reason to break up,” Pahlavi told The Daily Beast in an earlier interview.

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