Jack Anderson: Tighter gambling regulation a safe bet but the house always wins 

The debate on gambling advertising around broadcasts of our favourite sports in Australia, Ireland and elsewhere is growing louder. 

Bookmakers wait for customers in the betting ring during Melbourne Cup Day. Pic: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

WE are bigger losers than the Irish screamed one Australian media outlet this week. The context was a discussion in the federal parliament on restricting online sports gambling advertising. Last year a parliamentary report entitled 'You win some, you lose more' highlighted the dangers it said emanated from such advertising – normalising the association of sport with gambling; the targeting of children and vulnerable adults; the exploitation of consumers with ever easier ways to part, electronically or otherwise, with your money.Australians do, per capita, lose more on gambling than any other nation on the planet. That is mainly because of the ubiquity of 'pokie' machines in pubs and clubs around the country. These one-armed bandits are little more than regressive tax machines on the poorest in society.

Australians also like to bet on sport. As with Ireland, it was traditionally on racing (gallops, harness and the dogs) but now on any sport. Match odds are quoted at halftime and commercial breaks during AFL and NRL games. This writer loves a punt, particularly on horse racing which is now entering peak Spring Carnival season, culminating in the Melbourne Cup in early November. I like the industry but am clear-eyed about its relationship with gambling. No gambling; no racing, at least in any viable commercial form.