Former rugby league star Luke Bateman has alleged gambling company promoters supplied him with cocaine and alcohol, telling a parliamentary inquiry the betting industry exercised no duty of care.
Bateman, who is now a TikTok star and influential in the “BookTok” community, told the inquiry on Monday morning he attended a private Gold Coast event hosted by a gambling company at which senior figures took illicit drugs with clients.
He called on the Albanese government to go further in its plans to limit gambling advertising, saying vulnerable people needed tougher protections.
“There were times where I would be flown interstate and taken to race days, put in marquees with alcohol and food provided all day, things like that.
“Before getting there, your VIP manager would [say] ‘hey, mate, what drugs do you want? Do you want a couple bags for this weekend?”
The ۳۱-year-old told the inquiry that VIP account managers for gambling companies sent him personalised betting inducements including so-called “bonus bets”.
“I remember when I went to an exclusive event through a betting company, that was hosted in a rental on the canals of the Gold Coast.
“The entire sort of C-suite of the company was there, all the management team, administration, and they were sort of all in a back room doing drugs together, and I was out in this room doing drugs with all of them.
“This is like the CEO, the founders, the VIP managers, And at that stage … I would have been a ۲۳-year-old.
“I put my hand up, I was a willing participant of that, [but] these are men in positions of power with influence who should be looking out for your welfare, and this is the kind of behavior that they are drawing you into, encouraging you into, and coaxing you into and normalising.”
Bateman was earning $۴۰۰,۰۰۰ a year but had no money, with his losses leading to debts of more than $۲۵۰,۰۰۰.
He estimates he lost about $۱m due to his gambling addiction.
“There’s absolutely zero duty of care, absolute zero care for you as a human. There’s zero care for your well-being, for your mental state. Absolutely nothing of that.”
Anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello alleged to the hearing TAB and Sportsbet, as well as Sydney’s Star Casino, offered one problem gambler drugs, escorts, and free accommodation.
The man has been charged over illegal activities and is currently detained in Sydney’s Silverwater prison.
“He was given free accommodation at Star Casino. He had to leave each week so they could technically say he wasn’t living there and come back the next morning.
“He was the TAB’s biggest customer in that time. They were giving him $۵۰,۰۰۰ bonus bets. He was also Sportsbet’s biggest customer.
“They were flying him to grand finals. They were offering him escorts, drugs, whatever he wanted. He was doing turnover of more than $۲۰m a month.
“He is very distressed, having been brought up in a church family, about the disgrace to his family and to himself, and that’s why he’ll be pleading guilty.”
Representatives of Racing NSW and Racing Victoria will also appear, along with Lottery Office chief executive Jaclyn Wood.
The Albanese government’s legislation will cap the number of gambling ads broadcast each hour and ban gambling advertising during live matches.
Critics say the plan falls well short of the total ban proposed by late Labor MP Peta Murphy in a landmark report into gambling harm.
Liberal MP Simon Kennedy, who has advocated for the Coalition to go further than Labor with tougher new gambling limits, said Bateman’s story was a reality check.
“The prime minister’s gambling reforms protected the use of predatory VIP gambling inducements instead of protecting Australians from them,” he said.
“Even Labor’s own national conference has recognised this needs to be addressed. Why won’t the prime minister listen?”
