Gambling is now a large revenue source for many governments due to its ease of implementation, popular appeal and the high real tax rate it can bear (up to 40%). It is often promoted by spending on 'good causes' designated as 'additional' to existing government activity. This article examines the UK's National Lottery and Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) in Queensland, Australia and shows that, in both cases, gambling taxes are often diverted into education, health and social and economic development and therefore potentially substitute for taxation raised elsewhere in the economy. In addition, there is evidence that gambling's taxation implications (against income) are doubly regressive, taking disproportionately from lower income groups and giving to those better off.

The rise, fall and rise of sport gambling in Australia Australians lose more money gambling than any other country. But how did we get here? In his inimitable, hilarious style, sports historian Titus O'Reily charts the rise, fall and rise of sport gambling in Australia. We'll gamble on anything, from two flies crawling up a wall to less important things like federal elections. And thanks to the internet, phones and gambling-tax loving governments, these days Australians can indulge their love of a punt no matter what they're doing. Aussies could be at the birth of a child or performing open-heart surgery and still put a bet on. It wasn't always this easy. Once, you could only gamble on sport illegally. Which, it turns out, was actually also pretty easy. But over the last thirty years gambling on sport has been legalised, first slowly and then very quickly. Now almost every ad on TV is about sport betting, and even some of the players are getting in on the wagering. Please, Gamble Irresponsibly traces the history of gambling in Australia from horseracing in the colonial era, through the rise of SP bookies and organised crime, to the commercialisation of the industry and its impact on communities and the integrity of sport. With billions of dollars involved, what are the odds of putting the genie back in the bottle?