32 Daily Telegraph, 23 March 2002.

  33 Crikey, 17 December 2000.

  34 Australian Financial Review, 26 June 2003.

  35 Daily Telegraph, 3 December 2007.

  36 Canberra Times, 8 October 1990.

  37 Claim made by Tim Costello, Weekend Australian, 3 November 2007.

  38 R Jay, ‘Can our giant, toxic surf clubs win back their social licence?’, Noosa Matters, 7 September 2024.

  39 Doughney 2002.

  40 Doughney 2002, p. 153.

  41 Daily Telegraph, 26 March 2002.

  42 Daily Telegraph, 26 March 2002.

  43 Sun Herald, 8 August 2001.

  44 Livingstone, ‘How electronic gaming machines work’, Centre for Western Sydney, 2017.

  45 Daily Telegraph, 20 September 2007.

  46 Productivity Commission, Australia’s Gambling Industries: Inquiry Report, Ausinfo, Canberra, 1999, p. 11.

  47 Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales, Report to Government: Inquiry into Gaming in NSW, 1998

  48 Guardian, 26 October 2015.

  49 C Sebag-Montefiore, ‘Why Australia has a serious gambling problem’, CNN, 1 September 2017.

  50 Guardian, 6 February 2023.

  51 T Nance, Luck of the Draw? Inside Western Sydney’s Gambling Epidemic, Centre For Western Sydney, University of Western Sydney, 2023.

  52 Fairfield City Council, Submission to the Select Committee into the Impact of Gambling, New South Wales Parliament, 2014.

  53 Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 2017.

  54 A Briggs, ‘Socioeconomic dimensions of pokie machine losses’, Parliament of Australia, 2012.

  55 Age, 1 August 2012.

  56 Glenorchy City Council, Submission to Joint Select Committee on Future Gaming Markets, Parliament of Tasmania, 2017.

  57 Parliament of Tasmania, Joint Select Committee on Future Gaming Markets: Final Report, 2017.

  58 Parliament of Tasmania 2017, p. 37.

  59 Both recollections cited in A Suomi, N Lucas, N Dowling & P Delfabbro, Gambling Harm Experienced by Children of Parents Who Gamble, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, North Melbourne, 2021.

  60 ABC News, 19 September 2017.

  61 F Markham & M Young, ‘Who wins from “Big Gambling” in Australia?’, Conversation, 5 March 2014.

  62 A Hyland, ‘Reel life: From first flush to family feud’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 December 2017; Guilliat 1999.

  63 Sun Herald, 11 October 1993.

  64 R Robinson, ‘The high priest of pokies’, Herald Sun, 16 March 2002.

  65 A Grigg, ‘The revenge of Len Ainsworth’, Australian Financial Review, 11 February 2006.

  66 Crikey, 21 February 2020.

  67 Schull 2012, p. 52.

  68 Schull 2012.

  69 A Thomson, ‘The science of pokies and how they’re designed to keep you hooked’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 March 2023; see also Schull 2012.

  70 Interview with Charles Livingstone, December 2024.

  71 Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 2022.

  72 Australian Financial Review, 8 May 2003.

  73 Daily Telegraph, 8 September 2004.

  74 Sydney Morning Herald, 10 June 2010.

  75 Australian Financial Review, 3 July 2004.

  76 Weekend Australian, 10 August 2002.

  77 Australian Financial Review, 3 November 2022.

  78 Q Beresford, Rogue Corporations: Inside Australia’s Worst Business Scandals, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, 2023.

  79 K Johnston, ‘Pokies pub’s bid to extend its trading hours is simply obscene’, 11 July 2022.

  80 ABC News, 26 December 2023.

  81 Daily Telegraph, 11 September 2004.

  82 ABC News, 17 September 2015.

  83 7.30, ABC TV, 17 September 2015.

  84 Beresford 2023.

  85 Weekend Australian, 14 August 2004.

  86 Australian Financial Review, 16 November 2006.

  87 Australian Financial Review, 16 November 2006.

  88 B Corr, ‘Roger Corbett’, The Inspiration Project (podcast), Episode 11, 11 May 2020.

  89 Age, 23 July 2016.

  90 Australian Financial Review, 29 March 2010.

  91 Australian Financial Review, 31 October 2005.

  92 ABC News, 14 February 2019.

  93 New Daily, 3 March 2018.

  94 New Daily, 3 March 2018.

  95 Australian Financial Review, 31 October 2005.

  96 N O’Malley & N Gladstone, ‘Fresh food jackpot’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2018.

  97 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 2018.

  98 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 2018.

  99 News.com.au, 1 March 2018.

  100 Beresford 2023.

  101 Schull 2012.

  102 ABC News,12 September 2020.

  103 ABC News, 14 February 2019.

  104 Andrew Wilkie, press release, 2 March 2019.

  105 C Livingstone, ‘Coles wants $1 maximum bets for pokies – so why won’t the pokie-makers play ball?’, Conversation, 19 December 2019.

  106 D Ferguson, ‘Crown gambles on Labor kingmaker’, Age, 25 May 2016.

  107 Daily Telegraph, 7 February 2001.

  108 Daily Telegraph, 23 March 2018.

  109 Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, Interim Report, volume 2, 2018, p. 107.

  110 Guardian, 15 November 2022.

  7: The death of gambling reform

  1 ABC News, 24 June 2010.

  2 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  3 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  4 J Panichi, ‘The lobby group that got more bang for its buck’, Inside Story, 1 July 2013.

  5 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  6 Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, First Report: The Design and Implementation of a Mandatory Pre-commitment System for Electronic Gaming Machines, Senate Printing Unit, Canberra, May 2011.

  7 Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, May 2011.

  8 G Hutchens, ‘Clubs already have their own licence: To exploit addicts’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 October 2011.

  9 Australian Ethical, 27 February 2019.

  10 At Odds, ‘Pokies are designed for the purpose of making money’, 2018, .

  11 Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, May 2011, p. 6.

  12 Productivity Commission 1999, p. 26.

  13 Lateline, ABC TV, 8 March 2010.

  14 Australian Financial Review, 25 October 2001.

  15 C Mooney, ‘Mandatory pre-commitment fails problem gamblers: Clubs’, The Shout, 14 September 2014.

  16 Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, May 2011, p. 21.

  17 B Eltham, ‘How Gillard squibbed on gambling reform’, New Matilda, 24 January 2012.

  18 Productivity Commission 2010, p. 2.

  19 Australian Financial Review, 31 August 2010.

  20 Australian Financial Review, 25 October 2001.

  21 Productivity Commission 1999.

  22 Productivity Commission 1999.

  23 New Matilda, 25 May 2013.

  24 Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, ‘Gambling advertising’, n.d., .

  25 P Munro, ‘Rise and rise of Tom Waterhouse’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January 2013.

  26 P Mares, ‘Gambling on the Productivity Commission’, Inside Story, 13 March 2009.

  27 PM, ABC Radio, 14 July 2016.

  28 Age, 12 July 2012.

  29 J Gillard, My Story, Knopf, Sydney, 2014, p. 135.

  30 A Leigh, ‘Julia Gillard on friendship, purpose and the cone of silence’, The Good Life Podcast, 7 January 2021.

  31 S Mayne, ‘Gillard is loving doing over the pokie addicts in the NSW right’, Crikey, 3 September 2010.

  32 I Ting, A Freeland, M Workman, K Shatoba & A Palmer, ‘Betting on a winner’, ABC News, 10 May 2022.

  33 S Mayne, ‘Action from ALP on pokies, gambling, more long shot than sure bet’, Michael West Media, 18 August 2023.

  34 Townsville Bulletin, 29 July 2023.

  35 B Williams, ‘How Julia Gillard forever changed Australian politics – especially for women’, Conversation, 2 June 2020.

  36 R Gittins, ‘PM Gillard: Hard worker, hard-nosed, hard to read’, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December 2011.

  37 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  38 Panichi 2013.

  39 B Eltham, ‘The standover lobbyists club’, New Matilda, 12 April 2011.

  40 ABC News, 3 December 2010.

  41 P Barry, ‘Sydney’s pokies protector, Anthony Ball’, The Power Index, Crikey, 2011.

  42 ABC News, 3 December 2010.

  43 Age, 21 January 2012.

  44 Panichi 2013.

  45 Panichi 2013.

  46 Australian Financial Review, 21 November 2023.

  47 C Livingstone & M Johnson, ‘Gambling lobby gives big to political parties, and names names’, The Conversation, 23 February 2017.

  48 J Hansen, ‘Under the influence’, Sunday Telegraph, 18 December 2011.

  49 Lateline, ABC TV, 26 September 2011.

  50 ABC News, 3 December 2010.

  51 I McAllister, ‘Public opinion towards gambling and gambling regulation in Australia’, International Gambling Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2014, pp. 146–60.

  52 New Matilda, 13 November 2013.

  53 New Matilda, 5 July 2013.

  54 W Bacon & L Bull, ‘The casino Macquarie Street wants’, New Matilda, 26 October 2012.

  55 L Taylor, ‘Karl Bitar: Labor campaign director’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 2010.

  56 A Clark, ‘The man behind the crumbling throne’, Australian Financial Review, 27 September 2008.

  57 Clark 2008.

  58 Ferguson 2011.

  59 Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 2011.

  60 M Rolfe, ‘Barangaroo: Politics, property and players – it’s business as usual’, UNSW newsroom, 21 November 2012.

  61 K Murphy, ‘Bitar: Inside knowledge of Labor for hire’, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 2011.

  62 ABC News, 25 May 2011.

  63 Panichi 2013.

  64 Guardian, 20 October 2015.

  65 Australian Financial Review, 23 June 2011.

  66 Sun-Herald, 19 January 2012.

  67 Reported by Tim Costello, Guardian, 14 March 2018.

  68 Clark 2008.

  69 Eltham 2012.

  70 Panichi 2013.

  71 Gillard 2014, p. 356.

  72 SBS News, 12 March 2014.

  73 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  74 Gillard 2014.

  75 Gillard 2014.

  76 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  77 Eltham 2012.

  78 Eltham 2012.

  79 Weekend Australian, 28 January 2012.

  80 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  81 Australian Financial Review, 24 January 2012.

  82 Munro 2013.

  83 T Elliot, ‘Serious man’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May 2012.

  84 Munro 2013.

  85 Sun-Herald, 17 October 2010

  86 Elliot, 2012

  87 ‘The Big Gamble’, Four Corners, ABC TV, 20 May 2013.

  88 Interview with Andrew Wilkie, September 2024.

  89 Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, Second Report: Interactive and Online Gambling and Gambling Advertising, December 2011, p. 27.

  90 N Toscano, ‘William Hill highlights issues for betting industry’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 January 2018.

  91 Canberra Times, 25 May 2013.

  92 Cited in Toscano 2018.

  8: Capturing the state

  1 P Begley, ‘Machine men: The pokies lobby’, The Age, 1 October 2016.

  2 Crikey, 14 September 2022.

  3 Hansen 2011.

  4 Cited in L Edwards, ‘The rise of corporate power in Australia’, University of New South Wales, 2020.

  5 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 2018.

  6 K Brownwell & K Warner, ‘The perils of ignoring history: Big Tobacco played dirty and millions died. How similar is Big Food?’, The Milbank Quarterly, vol. 87, no. 1, 2009, pp. 259–94.

  7 Sunday Telegraph, 18 December 2011.

  8 Age, 11 August 2014.

  9 Cited in Mayne, August 2023.

  10 Brisbane Times, 19 October 2022.

  11 This account is drawn from my book Rogue Corporations (2023).

  12 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 2018.

  13 Sydney Morning Herald, 11 February 2023; Crikey, 3 November 2022.

  14 Australian Financial Review, 14 February 2024.

  15 Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 2015.

  16 A Drury, Selling Out: How Powerful Industries Corrupt Our Democracy, Human Rights Law Centre, 2022, p. 38.

  17 Sebag-Montefiore 2017.

  18 Age, 19 February 2024.

  19 Ting et al. 2012

  20 The Guardian, 4 November 2024

  21 Cited in Ting et al. 2022.

  22 Alliance for Gambling Reform, Submission to the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee, 2023.

  23 J Lacy-Nichols, ‘Picking a winner: How the gambling sector uses lobbyists to influence Canberra’, Transparency International, 2023.

  24 A Remeikis & J Taylor, ‘Win for lobbyists’, Guardian, 12 November 2019.

  25 Remeikis & Taylor 2019.

  26 J Lacy-Nichols, S Christie & K Cullerton, ‘Lobbying by omission: What is known and unknown about harmful industry lobbyists in Australia’, Health Promotion International, vol. 38, 2023, pp. 1–14.

  27 Lacy-Nichols, Christie & Cullerton 2023.

  28 J Koutsoukis, ‘How lobbyists shape the budget’, Saturday Paper, 11–17 May 2024.

  29 Our Democracy, Submission to the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee’s Inquiry into Access to Australian Parliament House by Lobbyists, 23 February 2024.

  30 L Stacy, ‘Powerful and well-connected crowd out anti-gambling campaigners’, Michael West Media, 8 June 2020.

  31 Lacy-Nichols 2023.

  32 D Wood & K Griffiths, Who’s in the Room? Access and Influence in Australian politics, Grattan Institute, 2018.

  33 Wood & Griffiths, p. 19.

  34 S Johnson, ‘Gambling industry sprays hospitality and gifts’, Open Politics, 13 January 2022.

  35 Daily Telegraph, 5 September 2006.

  36 ‘High Stakes’, Four Corners, ABC TV, 13 March 2023.

  37 ABC News, 13 February 2020.

  38 Sunday Age, 28 November 2021.

  39 Daily Telegraph, 8 July 2022.

  40 AUSTRAC, Pubs and Clubs with Gaming Machines Regulatory Guide, Commonwealth of Australia, 2021.

  41 V Carson, ‘Dirty laundry’, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 October 2010.

  42 Sunday Age, 28 November 2021.

  43 Sun-Herald, 28 November 2021.

  44 N McKenzie & J Tozer, ‘The money laundry: Pubs and clubs the next frontier for crime’, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 November 2021.

  45 McKenzie & Tozer 2021.

  46 S Mayne, ‘Who is Josh Landis?’, Crikey, 1 February 2023.

  47 ‘Revolving Doors: Josh Landis’, Michael West Media, n.d., .

  48 H Alexander, ‘Hooked on pokies’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 November 2022.

  49 B Walker, ‘Pokies and porkies: The five myths peddled by clubs’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 January 2023.

  50 Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October 2022.

  51 A Patrick, ‘Did the pokie industry just demote the NSW gaming minister?’, Australian Financial Review, 21 December 2021.

  52 Age, 29 November 2021.

  53 T Costello, ‘Is Dominic Perrottet being trashed by the gambling industry for opposing pokies?’, Crikey, 16 January 2023.

  54 Patrick 2021.

  55 Sydney Morning Herald, 31 December 2022.

  56 Sydney Morning Herald, 31 December 2022.

  57 Guardian, 20 March 2023.

  58 ABC News, 13 March 2023.

  59 ABC News, 13 March 2023.

  60 Brisbane Times, 21 February 2024.

  61 Guardian, 23 March 2023.

  62 J Revell, ‘NSW to bring in cashless pokies as a battle against the clubs heats up’, The Latch, 6 February 2023.

  63 Revell 2023.

  64 ABC News, 13 March 2023.

  65 Revell 2023.

  66 Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January 2023.

  67 Sydney Morning Herald, 13 December 2022.

  68 Revell 2023.

  69 New South Wales Government, ‘Guide to working in a NSW club’, n.d., .

  70 Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October 2022.

  71 Sydney Morning Herald, 11 February 2023.

  72 ‘High Stakes’, Four Corners, ABC TV, 13 March 2023.

  73 Nine News, 1 January 2023.

  74 SBS News, 12 January 2023.

  75 Guardian, 13 January 2023.

  9: The online revolution

  1 Financial Counselling Australia 2022.

  2 ABC News, 23 August 2016.

  3 ABC News, 5 November 2012.

  4 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, You Win Some, You Lose More: Online Gambling and Its Impacts on Those Experiencing Gambling Harm, 2023.

  5 K Micallef, ‘The rise of Apps in the iGaming space: Key strategies for success’, Sigma, n.d. .

  6 N White, ‘Inside the high-stakes life of a gambling tycoon’, Daily Mail, 3 November 2022.

  7 Interview with a professional gambler, March 2025.

  8 ABC Radio National, 20 September 2024.

  9 J Macey & J Hamari, ‘ “Gamblification”: A definition’, New Media and Society, vol. 26, no. 4, 2022, pp. 2046–65.

  10 Sun-Herald, 24 March 2013.

  11 Livingstone, ‘Tom Waterhouse takes the money: What now for gambling in Australia?’, Conversation, 12 August 2013.

  12 M Meehall Wood, ‘Sports betting will do to America what it’s done to Australia’, Jacobin, 29 September 2024.

  13 Age, 14 July 2012.

  14 Age, 10 November 1991.

  15 G Linnell, Football Ltd: Inside the Story of the AFL, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 1995.

  16 Australian Financial Review,18 June 2024.