Please Gamble Irresponsibly: The rise, fall and rise of sports gambling in Australia

Description

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?

Titus O'Reily is a writer, presenter, performer and broadcaster known for capturing the trials and tribulations of being an obsessive sports fan. His commentary and sporting round-ups have attracted over 300k followers on social media. As well as his own national comedy tours, O'Reily appears on The Front Bar, The Project and is a regular on ABC Radio and NOVA FM. He is in demand as a guest speaker at high-profile events like the AFL Grand Final. Titus has written four books- A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport (2017), A Sporting Chance (2018), Please Gamble Irresponsibly (2019) and Cheat- The Not-So-subtle Art of Conning Your Way to Sporting Glory (2020). His unique take on sport has been hailed by some of the most respected figures in sport as 'awful', 'childish' and 'barely comprehensible'. Others say 'hilarious'.