--- Australia’s gambling industry is expanding its political footprint through donations to major parties, with recent reporting showing millions flowing to Labor and the Coalition and long-running concerns about transparency and influence. The scale of gambling money in politics has become a significant issue in recent years. Federal-level investigations have uncovered substantial donations from gambling-linked entities: research into political donations by gambling-linked entities in Australia’s political sphere revealed a staggering $81.7 million over 22 years, according to an ABC report. Furthermore, in recent years, organisations and individuals tied to the gambling business in Australia's states and territories alone have contributed at least $18 million to political donations, demonstrating the industry's growing political reach. Who the Biggest Donors Are Some of the heaviest hitters in the gambling sector have long been among the largest contributors to major Australian political parties. Gambling companies and associated entities contributed by far the most. Prominent names include **Tabcorp** ($3.95 million), **Crown** ($3.25 million) and **The Star Entertainment Group** ($1.77 million). These companies, which operate in a range of gambling domains—notably sports betting, casino games, and poker machines—have emerged as significant players in the political donation arena. Industry peak bodies have also been major financial backers. Reports indicate that eight major gambling companies donated a total of $2.7 million to the major parties between 2014 and 2024, with donations from horse-racing-linked companies skyrocketing from $66,650 in 2013-14 to $488,000 in 2022-23, a 632% increase. This pattern is consistent with other findings. The Temporal Trend The trend in gambling-related donations has been on a steep upward trajectory in recent years. Numbers from the Australian Hotels Association and ClubsNSW align with this picture. The two industry bodies disclosed around $16 million in political contributions between the 1998-99 and 2019-20 financial years. And between 2020–21 and 2024–25, Labor attracted $4.4 million from gambling-related entities, while the Coalition took in $2.6 million, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Furthermore, donations from gambling entities to the major parties crossed $100,000 for the first time in 2015-16 and reached $561,195 in 2021-22. The newer data demonstrates that this was no fleeting trend. When set against the earlier federal-level investigation, it suggests the flow of gambling-related money into Australian politics has continued unabated in recent years. Why Transparency Matters One of the big hang-ups in the debate around gambling money in politics is the lack of transparency. More than 85% of the $40 million disclosed by gambling-related organisations was submitted with no description or further detail, according to an ABC investigation in 2021. Even fewer numbers provide a full breakdown: roughly 35% of private funding to political parties, or about $1 billion, had remained hidden from public scrutiny over two decades, the investigation found. This lack of detail is a big issue in the debate about whether too much political favour is owed to gambling entities. The other angle is that donations to political parties are made for specific branches and divisions of political parties, not just discrete campaigns, disclosures show. This means that, in theory, a single donation could indirectly underwrite a wide range of party activities, from policy work to candidate and campaign funding, rather than being earmarked for a specific purpose. Investigations About Influence Though it's difficult to prove that donations directly translated to political favours, parallel investigations make a strong argument that the gambling industry stands to benefit from political backing. In 2024, a Reuters report found that the US sports betting industry spent at least $72 million in the 2026 midterm elections, showing that a larger trend may be developing. And in 2021, ABC described how the gambling industry's reach extends across hotels and pubs, banking, entertainment, sport, supermarket retailers, media and property in Australia. Furthermore, Monash University scholars found that gambling-industry members are consistent and substantial donors to both major parties in Australia. A 2021 study, which analysed the significant increase in donations by gambling companies and other entities linked to Australia's gambling sector, concluded that both conservative and labour backers donated large sums. Where Do We Go From Here? So what does all this mean for gambling-related laws in Australia? It raises the question of whether the current system of self-disclosure and political donations is sufficient to regulate the flow of money from highly regulated industries—like some sectors of the gambling business—into major political parties. And some would argue that it's not. There are calls for stricter caps on donations, more detailed disclosure requirements, and a ban on corporate donations outright in some quarters, though the success of these reforms is hard to predict given industry clout. Any winding-back of political donations would also need to be weighed against the fact that public trust in political processes is already low in many Western democracies, including Australia, following a string of scandals in recent years. That's another challenge for federal and state governments. In the absence of immediate systemic change, one thing seems certain: the gambling industry will continue to draw close to political power both here and abroad. That means keeping a watchful eye on which services and uses get funding and exposure, and to what degree. ---

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