Gambling apps nearly ruined my life. And Labor has chosen self-interest over protecting the vulnerable | Mark Kempster

I never thought I would end up with an addiction, let alone a gambling addiction.

I used to make fun of the people in the gaming room at the pub I worked at when I was 19 years old, thinking I was so much better than them and wondering how they could waste their lives on these machines all day. They were “weak-minded” from what I saw.

That was all until gambling apps became so prevalent in Australian society and nearly ruined my life.

I was always a massive sports fan. I grew up loving all sports and played footy and cricket every chance I got in the park next door to my place with my brothers.

This didn’t change into my early 20s, when my passion for it continued. I played footy at a higher level at a young age, around the older men who enjoyed a “punt”.

I slowly started to enjoy the thrill of a win over a few beers with mates. It was something I could control at that time.

I downloaded my first betting app on my phone around the age of 21. By the time I was 23, I had probably 10 different betting companies’ apps on my phone and was betting every weekend. By 25, I was betting three to four days a week. By the time I turned 30, I was betting every day – and losing every day.

My addiction had spiralled to a point where I became an absolute shell of the person I once was. I was angry and vindictive and wanted people to feel awful because that’s how I felt at the time.

Over that 10-year period, I lost more than $100,000 by the time I was 32 and my addiction came out to my beautiful partner, family and friends.

It’s really hard to explain how I was feeling in the last few years of my addiction. I had little recollection of what exactly I was betting. The sheer volume of communication I received from all the companies during this time made everything seem like a blur.

I could have a bet on within 20 seconds of receiving marketing material from gambling companies without even thinking about it. They had trained me and changed the way my brain worked. Gambling apps and advertising had taken over my whole life and almost cost me everything that was close to me.

We are currently inundated with a bombardment of gambling advertising across TV, radio and social media in this country.

I have vowed to myself that I don’t want my son to grow up in an Australia where we are happy to put the needs and profits of huge overseas companies and TV networks before the health and safety of our children.

I spoke at the Peta Murphy’s parliamentary inquiry into online gambling harm early last year to explain to them how dangerous the current level of advertising by gambling companies is. I had hoped that this would have been the catalyst for change once they saw the harm this industry was causing throughout the inquiry.

Not one person could read the submissions on how people had lost loved ones to gambling addictions and not see the need for change.

However, here I am 18 months later, still having to avoid watching the sports I once loved, out of the fear of what it could do to me and my family.

I have lost all faith in our current government to do the right thing. From what they are currently saying, they have chosen their own self-interest and winning the next election over protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

I am one of the lucky ones who has managed to get their addiction under control and now haven’t had a bet in four years.

I regularly offer my support to people who are currently battling addiction. I am also working closely with the Alliance for Gambling Reform to advocate for change.

The gambling advertising we are subjected to in this country is causing people to end their lives. I have seen it first-hand. Yet I feel every day that this government has turned its back on me.

We still have time to change the course of history in our country. I’m pleading with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to not let our future generations of Australians be preyed on by gambling companies like I was.

Banning all gambling advertising and implementing all 31 recommendations of the Murphy report is the only way we can halt the devastating damage gambling is doing across our nation.

Mark Kempster is a member of the Alliance for Gambling Reform’s Voices of Lived Experience program