Accessible through mobile phones, online gambling is the fastest-growing form of gambling in the country.

“It’s going to affect a lot of people – and mainly teenagers,” Julie McDermott, a gambling help counsellor at Wagga Family Support, said.

“It is just so easy to do it.”

The latest figures show online gambling is valued at an estimated $1 billion per year, with most Australians accessing services such as poker through overseas gambling websites.

Most international gambling websites continue to accelerate in popularly because it is illegal to set up a gambling website in Australia.

Ms McDermott said she had witnessed people who had “torn their lives apart” because of problem gambling.

She said online gambling could be riskier to vulnerable people because it was directly linked to bank accounts.

“I have seen people who have lost everything,” she said. 

“It’s very easy to spend a large amount of money because you’re not physically touching it.

“The gambling industry will spend quite a lot of money to make this side of it look appealing.”

A productivity commission review into Australian gambling found total losses at the time had reached $19 billion a year.

The 2010 review also found that gambling counselling services had “worked well”, but Ms McDermott said services were not being utilised as well as they could be.

She said there was still a “stigma” associated with accessing professional gambling help, which could be overcome with better communication.

“Unfortuntely you don’t see people seeking help until well after it is quite severe,” Ms McDermott said

“We very much need to get in there earlier before it becomes that way. We need to communicate the message that there is no stigma and it’s not embarrassing to reach out for help. 

“The consequences are just too severe.”

Problem gambling in Australia

Contact the reporter: brodie.owen@fairfaxmedia.com.au or 6938 3316