Australians lose around $25 billion on legal forms of gambling each year, the most of any country in the world, while the industry rakes in $187 billion through poker machines, casinos and the exponential rise in sports betting. With a cast of questionable characters, iconic corporate brands, eye-watering greed, political subterfuge and the many state and federal politicians who have sold out to the gambling industry, in Hooked Quentin Beresford exposes the underbelly of gambling in Australia. Beresford explores how gambling expanded from a highly restricted recreational activity to a mega industry. And asks, has Big Gambling become too big to fail and too powerful to adequately regulate? What does the crisis reveal about the murky intersection between business and politics? And, finally, how can the gambling industry be reined in?
