It could be game over for Australia as world’s sports betting capital

Mark Kempster, a recovering gambling addict, is too nervous about falling off the wagon to watch live sport on TV on his own.

“I’ve grown up watching as much of it on TV as possible, but I’m terrified I’ll give in to temptation with all the betting ads we see these days,” Kempster, 36, from Hobart, Tasmania, said.

His partner discovered his secret addiction to online betting apps, which consumed most of his twenties, when she checked his bank accounts after he lost a couple of thousand dollars betting on the Australian rules football grand final in 2020 and passed out after a night’s drinking.

By then he had racked up losses of more than $100,000, mainly betting on Aussie rules football and the horses.