Obviously, these suggestions for reform are not exhaustive; a range of experts have made sensible policy proposals. But as this book has shown, structural reform to the gambling industry is both necessary and urgent.

  The legions of vulnerable gamblers and their families, the children exposed to a culture that has normalised gambling, and the animals that are killed and traumatised for the purposes of gambling all deserve better protection.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  A number of people were critical to the writing of Hooked. I had the good fortune of being able to access the views of some leading figures who know the world of gambling inside out; their experiences and insights have helped shape the book.

  Reverend Tim Costello gave generously of his time for several lengthy interviews. As most people know, Tim has made an outstanding contribution to the cause of social justice both in Australia and overseas. For decades, he has tirelessly led community campaigns for gambling reform and taken his advocacy to a succession of premiers and prime ministers. He has unrivalled insight into how the political system has been captured by Big Gambling.

  Tim is the chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform (www.agr.org.au), which spearheads community awareness campaigns and advocacy. I would also like to thank its CEO, Martin Thomas, for his helpful assistance.

  The federal member for Clark (previously Denison), Andrew Wilkie, also has an intimate knowledge of the power of gambling interests. Since he entered parliament 15 years ago, he has fought for gambling reform and regularly blown the whistle on the rapacious business model behind the industry. He, too, was generous with his time and feedback on the project.

  Another independent federal MP also brought keen insights into the politics of gambling. Kate Chaney, the member for Curtin, was part of the House of Representatives’ 2022–23 Inquiry into Online Gambling and Its Impacts on Those Experiencing Gambling Harm, the most far-reaching parliamentary inquiry ever undertaken into gambling, which produced a bold, bipartisan blueprint for reform – only to see its important recommendations sidelined. Kate shared with me her revealing insights into how this came about.

  Few people have been on the front line of gambling studies longer than Associate Professor Charles Livingstone of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. His studies have produced a comprehensive understanding of the operations of the gambling industry, the harm caused by many of its products and the social damage these continue to inflict on the community. I greatly benefited from his deep knowledge of these issues.

  Journalist Stephen Mayne shared his expertise on the history of Crown Casino. Stephen is a longstanding and vocal critic of the gambling industry and the power it wields.

  Jan Stewart was the CEO of Lotterywest for over two decades, and was generous with her extensive knowledge of the Australian and international gambling industry. We shared several productive conversations about the themes discussed in the book.

  My understanding of the gambling industry was enhanced through the long conversations I had with a professional gambler who, understandably, prefers to remain anonymous. He offered invaluable insights into the exploitative side of the industry’s business model and revealed details that few other people could.

  Going into this project, I had a broad understanding of the cruelty inherent in the greyhound racing industry, but I came away shocked by its extent. Helping me understand this reality were members of the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds (https://greyhoundcoalition.com), who carry out such humane work and advocacy for these beautiful, gentle creatures.

  The team at NewSouth Publishing are a joy to work with. This is my fifth book with them, and it is always a seamless experience of friendliness, professionalism and efficiency. I thank them all, especially executive publisher Elspeth Menzies, who offered both encouragement and constructive editorial advice. She helped shape the project. I appreciate too the editorial expertise provided by Julian Welch. Julian’s literary skills and careful attention to detail helped polish the final draft. I learned much from him. Tim Senior offered expert legal advice to the project, for which I am very grateful.

  The contribution my wife, Marilyn Beresford, makes to my writing now stretches over decades and multiple projects. She generously offers her time as a sounding board and an astute critic, and has a gentle way of offering frank and fearless feedback if she doesn’t think a draft is up to scratch. Family and friends know how much I appreciate and value her contribution.

  And a big thank you to my grandson Jacob Smith for allowing me to share the story that opens the book.

  As important as these contributions by others have been, the author naturally accepts responsibility for the book’s contents.

  NOTES

  Introduction

  1 Australian Institute for Gambling Research, Australian Gambling Comparative History and Analysis: Project Report, Victorian Casino and Gambling Authority, Melbourne, 1999, p. 12.

  2 The Referee, 10 October 1906.

  3 SBS News, 15 September 2024. SBS quoted Queensland Treasury’s statistical analysis on gambling expenditure (the Queensland Treasury, under a cooperative arrangement with all Australian states and territories, collates national gambling statistics). A subsequent report undertaken by Equity Economics (Gambling in Australia’s Cost-of-living Crisis: The Black Hole in Household Budgets, March 2025) came to much the same figure.

  4 Equity Economics 2025.

  5 SBS News, 15 September 2024.

  6 H O’Sullivan, ‘How much do Australians lose on gambling?’, Savings, 23 October 2024, .

  7 Cited in J Doughney, ‘Socio-economic banditry: Poker machines and economic redistribution in Victoria’, in T Early & B Bradley (eds), Competing Visions: Refereed Proceedings of the National Social Policy Conference, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 2002.

  8 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, You Win Some, You Lose Some: Online Gambling and its Impacts on Those Experiencing Gambling Harm, 2023, pp. 25, 30.

  9 R Cassidy, Vicious Games: Capitalism and Gambling, Pluto Press, London, 2020.

  10 The term ‘late capitalism’ was popularised in the 1970s from the work of Belgian Marxist economist Ernest Mandel. I use it here not with Mandel’s economy theory about the phases of capitalism in mind, but with a more general focus, to describe certain common features of modern capitalism.

  1: The pokies palaces

  1 J Stensholt, ‘How Aristocrat Leisure pokie billionaire Len Ainsworth survived a bombing’, Australian, 19 March 2021.

  2 Stensholt 2021.

  3 Queensland Times, 14 June 1935.

  4 G Chilton, ‘Australia’s first leagues club closes’, Australian Geographic, 11 December 2015.

  5 N Hing, ‘A history of machine gambling in the NSW club industry: From community benefit to commercialisation’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration, vol. 7, no. 1, 2006, pp. 83–107.

  6 Hing 2006.

  7 Hing 2006.

  8 G Chesterman, ‘How to export a bandit’, Bulletin, 20 November 1965.

  9 P Cochrane, Caddie, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1981.

  10 JM Freeland, The Australian Pub, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1977, p. 178.

  11 Cochrane 1981.

  12 GT Caldwell, ‘How poker machines have led to major social change’, Canberra Times, 19 December 1972.

  13 Newcastle Morning Herald, 29 December 1948.

  14 Caldwell 1972.

  15 Interview with Charles Livingstone, December 2024.

  16 Hing 2006.

  17 Caldwell 1972.

  18 Interview with Charles Livingstone, December 2024; GT Caldwell, ‘The appeal of poker machines’, Canberra Times, 30 November 1970.

  19 Queensland Central Herald, 26 April 1956.

  20 Herald Sun, 8 August 2001.

  21 Caldwell 1972.

  22 Interview with Charles Livingstone, December 2024.

  23 Caldwell 1970.

  24 Canberra Times, 22 November 1963.

  25 J Baker, ‘How leagues clubs grew “fat, dumb and happy” on poker machines’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 February 2023.

  26 Smith’s Weekly, 15 October 1949.

  27 Daily News, 9 November 1955.

  28 Western Herald, 29 November 1957.

  29 Bulletin, 12 December 1964.

  30 Canberra Times, 13 December 1965.

  31 Canberra Times, 13 December 1965.

  32 Canberra Times, 25 October 1973.

  33 D Halpin, ‘The great poker machine menace’, Bulletin, 22 October 1977.

  34 Canberra Times, 20 November 1965.

  35 Canberra Times, 20 November 1965.

  36 Halpin 1977.

  37 Canberra Times, 25 October 1973.

  38 Caldwell 1972.

  39 Bulletin, 14 June 1969.

  40 Bulletin, 14 June 1969.

  41 Bulletin, 12 December 1964.

  42 Caldwell 1972.

  43 Caldwell 1972.

  44 ABC Religion and Ethics Report, 17 May 2015.

  45 Bulletin, 14 June 1969.

  46 Caldwell 1972.

  47 Sun, 9 December 1951.

  48 Canberra Times, 19 March 2012.

  49 Cited in Stensholt 2021.

  50 R Guilliatt, ‘The Ainsworth saga’, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 March 1999.

  51 Guilliatt 1999.

  52 Bulletin, 22 July 1977.

  53 Canberra Times, 22 July 1979.

  54 Chesterman 1965.

  55 Cited in Stensholt 2021.

  56 Advertiser, 28 April 2011.

  57 Stensholt 2021.

  58 Guilliatt 1999.

  59 Guilliatt 1999.

  60 Bulletin, 14 June 1969.

  61 J Grohman, ‘Victoria’s Bolte’, Bulletin, 7 April 1962.

  62 Canberra Times, 25 October 1972.

  63 Daily Telegraph, 14 July 2003.

  64 I Goffman, Where the Action Is: Three Essays, Allen Lane, London, 1969.

  65 Caldwell 1970.

  66 Australian Women’s Weekly, 23 February 1966.

  67 Cited in M MacDonald, ‘The big new punt on the great Australian gamble’, Bulletin, 10 February 1973.

  68 Broadcaster, 3 June 1975.

  69 Canberra Times, 25 October 1972.

  70 Cited in Halpin 1977.

  71 Canberra Times, 23 November 1974.

  72 Canberra Times, 25 October 1973.

  2: The mafia comes to Australia

  1 Canberra Times, 29 May 1967.

  2 Canberra Times, 25 October 1972.

  3 PE Loughnan, ‘A history of the Askin government 1965–75’, PhD thesis, University of New England, 2013.

  4 A Moffitt, Allegations of Organized Crime in Clubs, Government Printer, Sydney, 1974.

  5 Tribune, 11 November 1981.

  6 A McCoy, Drug Traffic: Narcotics and Organized Crime in Australia, Harper & Row, 1980.

  7 T Reeves, Mr Big: The True Story of Lennie McPherson and His Life of Crime, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005.

  8 White, ‘From machine guns on the dining table to a garden shed full of cash: Childhood neighbour of Australia’s most notorious gangster reveals what it was like living next door to softly spoken “Uncle Lennie” McPherson’, Daily Mail, 25 November 2018.

  9 White 2018.

  10 Reeves 2005.

  11 Canberra Times, 19 September 1973.

  12 G Schuberg, ‘Who was Lenny McPherson?’, Museums of History NSW, 5 December 2022, .

  13 Whie 2018.

  14 P Bleakley, The Australian Gamble: Organized Crime Down Under, Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.

  15 Moffitt 1974.

  16 Reeves 2005, p. 181.

  17 For Rooklyn’s early career, see Bleakley 2023.

  18 Moffitt 1974.

  19 Moffitt 1974.

  20 Moffitt 1974, p. 101.

  21 D Amoruso, ‘Mafia author shares dark stories behind Garden State Gangland: The Rise of the Mob in New Jersey’, Gangsters Inc., 12 March 2018, .

  22 Tribune, 11 November 1981.

  23 Reeves 2005.

  24 Reeves 2005, p. 4.

  25 Reeves 2005.

  26 McCoy 1980.

  27 N Horden, ‘Sydney, 1960s, corruption: The problem lay with everyone’, Australian Financial Review, 2 May 2017.

  28 Canberra Times, 19 September 1973.

  29 Canberra Times, 12 August 1972.

  30 Moffitt 1974, p. 86.

  31 M Brown, ‘Mr Big and others brought to book’, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 May 2007.

  32 Brown 2007.

  33 Brown 2007.

  34 Brown 2007.

  35 Bulletin, 11 November 1978.

  36 Australian, 2 March 2013.

  37 Australian, 2 March 2013.

  38 JRT Wood, Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service. Final Report. Volume 1: Corruption, Government of New South Wales, May 1997.

  39 Moffitt 1974, p. 134.

  40 Age, 24 September 2005.

  41 Reeves 2005.

  42 Reeves 2005.

  43 Moffitt 1974, p. 64.

  44 Moffitt 1974, p. 63.

  45 Canberra Times, 19 September 1973.

  46 GN Hawker, ‘Albert Ross Sloss (1911–1990)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, 2012, .

  47 Moffitt 1974, p. 82.

  48 Moffitt 1974, p. 82.

  49 Reeves 2005, p. 219.

  50 Wood 1997, p. 49.

  51 Wood 1997, p. 49.

  52 Tribune, 16 September 1981.

  3: Vegas Down Under

  1 Brisbane Telegraph, 24 December 1953.

  2 Warwick Daily News, 15 January 1954.

  3 Brisbane Telegraph, 21 December 1953.

  4 Sunday Herald, 21 June 1953.

  5 Warwick Daily News, 15 January 1954.

  6 Sunday Herald, 21 June 1953.

  7 Canberra Times, 12 March 1988.

  8 DG Schwartz, At the Sands: The Casino that Shaped Classic Las Vegas, Brought the Rat Pack Together, and Went Out with a Bang, Winchester Books, Winchester, 2020.

  9 Bleakley 2023.

  10 N Whiting, ‘New allegations about the collapse of the 1972 Tasmanian government’, 7.30, ABC TV, 24 January 2018.

  11 Bulletin, 7 June 1969.

  12 The story comes from casino whistleblower Hugh Dell, who claimed to have witnessed the incident; see S Bevilacqua, ‘Bribery rumours stain our history’, Mercury, 5 August 2017.

  13 J Boyce, Losing Streak: How Tasmania Was Gamed by the Gambling Industry, Black Inc., Collingwood, 2017.

  14 Canberra Times, 5 June 1969.

  15 Boyce 2017.

  16 Canberra Times, 19 March 1974.

  17 Boyce 2017.

  18 Bevilacqua 2017.

  19 MacDonald 1973.

  20 B Hills, ‘The big gamble’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 March 1997.

  21 Australian Women’s Weekly, 8 March 1978.

  22 Australian Women’s Weekly, 8 March 1978.

  23 Canberra Times, 12 August 1976.

  24 D Hickie, ‘Askin: Friend to organised crime’, National Times, 13–19 September 1981.

  25 D Hickie, The Prince and the Premier: The Story of Perce Galea, Bob Askin and the Others Who Gave Organised Crime Its Start in Australia, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1985, p. 87.

  26 M Duffy & N Horden, Sydney Noir: The Golden Years, NewSouth, Sydney, 2017.

  27 Hickie 1985.

  28 Hickie 1985.

  29 Sydney Crime Museum, ‘Ray Kelly’, Sydney Crime Museum, 2015, .

  30 J Silvester, ‘Why crooked cops are just dumb’, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 October 2016.

  31 Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 1946.

  32 News, 3 September 1948.

  33 Courier-Mail, 3 August 1954.

  34 R Miller, ‘Football’s big punt: Sports betting’, Age, 14 May 2011.

  35 Bulletin, 19 April 1975.

  36 Tribune, 17 April 1985.

  37 Newcastle Sun, 9 December 1937.

  38 Hickie 1985.

  39 Canberra Times, 13 July 1967; Canberra Times, 14 May 1968.

  40 Canberra Times, 13 July 1967.

  41 Hickie 1985.

  42 Hickie 1985.

  43 D Marr, ‘Reform Wran’s delicate task’, Bulletin, 6 November 1976.

  44 M Rutledge, ‘Percival John (Perce) Galea (1910–1977)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, 1996, .

  45 Journalist Larry Writer knew Galea as a child and his recollections were recorded in Craig Sherborne’s review of Writer’s book Razor: A True Story of Slashers, Gangsters, Prostitutes and Sly Grog in Australian Book Review, no. 231, June 2001.

  46 Loughnan 1985.

  47 K McClymont, ‘Underworld figure and one-time “biggest illegal gaming operator” in NSW dies’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 January 2022.

  48 Bulletin, 10 February 1973.

  49 Sydney Crime Museum 2015.

  50 McCoy 1980.

  51 Daily Mail, 13 March 2021.

  52 Daily Mail, 13 March 2021.

  53 Sydney Crime Museum 2015.

  54 B Swanton, ‘Frederick John Hanson (1914–1980)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, 1996, .

  55 Daily Mail, 13 March 2021.

  56 Tribune, 22 August 1972.

  57 Loughnan 2013, p. 304.

  58 Reeves 2007, p. 91.

  59 M Steketee, ‘Son of Sydney’, Weekend Australian, 3 June 2006.

  60 M Steketee & M Cockburn, Wran: An Unauthorised Biography, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1986.

  61 New Matilda, 24 April 2014.

  62 Steketee 2006.

  63 R Cavalier, ‘Neville’s life lived in good measure’, ABC News, 21 April 2014.