THE STAGGERING STATISTICS
The gambling industry loves to tell Australians it’s all just harmless fun. But the statistics paint a picture of devastation that can’t be ignored.
Australians lose about AUD 31.5 billion per year to legal gambling.
That amount is more than what the federal government spends on aged care (≈ AUD 28.3 billion).
It’s nearly as much as what is spent on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) (≈ AUD 35.2 billion).
On average, each adult in Australia loses about AUD 1,527 per year to gambling.
This is money many families could use for rent/mortgage, bills, food, education, or saving. When losses pile up like that over years, the damage becomes severe and persistent.
Australia has the highest per-capita gambling losses in the world, far exceeding countries like the US and New Zealand.
For example, Australia’s average annual loss per adult (~AUD 1,635) is more than double that of the US (AUD ~809) or New Zealand (AUD ~584).
Around 73% of Australian adults gambled at least once in the past 12 months.
Almost two out of every five (38%) of adult Australians gambled at least weekly.
Among people who gamble, nearly half (46%) are classified as being at some risk of gambling harm.
Australians lose nearly AUD 13 billion every year on pokies alone.
The vast majority of those losses come from people gambling above “low-risk” limits.
While real wages have declined somewhat in recent years (or at least not kept pace with inflation), gambling losses have increased.
NEARLY 1 IN 3 AUSSIE KIDS UNDER 17 COLLECTIVELY GAMBLED $18 MILLION/YEAR
THE NEURO SCIENCE OF GAMBLING
The government of Australia and the gambling industry including the horse racing industry can try to paint gambling as harmless fun but the statistics prove otherwise.
Gambling is not fun. It is not harmless.
CALL TO ACTION
Every statistic is a life.
Every dollar lost is another family broken.
Australia doesn’t need racing. It doesn’t need gambling.
It needs courage to cut ties with cruelty and addiction.
👉 Stand with us. Don’t gamble. Don’t bet on horse racing – or any racing. Help us fight back by donating today.
SUPPORT OUR WORK
At Meet Our Horse Meat, we place immense value on every donation we receive.
Your generosity fuels our investigations, keeps our reporting independent, and allows us to:
Expose cruelty and corruption in the horse slaughter industry.
Advocate for stronger laws and enforcement to protect horses.
Campaign for humane end-of-life solutions for all equines.
Educate the public about food fraud and animal welfare issues.
Push for transparency and accountability in racing and breeding.
Every contribution—no matter the size—helps us shine a light on what others want to keep hidden.
Together, we can end the exploitation and ensure every horse is treated with dignity.
#MOHM THREATENED?
We’ve been threatened by those in the horse racing industry and those who benefit from horse slaughter more times than we can count.
But we are not going away.
We are going to persist until horse slaughter no longer exists for any purpose within Australia -- and until the horse racing industry makes drastic changes.
We are going to continue our hands-on work to offer lifelong sanctuary to as many horses as possible. We generally have 20 at just one of our locations - at any given time.
We have the acreage to take on more horses as financial support allows.
BRUMBY ADVOCATE GARY COTCHIN
Thank you to Gary Cotchin for the research and boots-on-the-ground work he's done in defence of Brumbies in Australia - and for sharing the article below. We've linked a PDF via buttons and links below to the pictures Gary mentions in his writing. Some of which are...
MERAMIST ABATTOIR NOT SLAUGHTERING HORSES
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR...We are not convinced that the fact that Meramist Abattoir is NOT currently slaughtering horses for human consumption is permanent. We're hearing rumours that the business has been sold and that the intention is that moving forward cattle will be...
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