Please Gamble Irresponsibility: The Rise, Fall and Rise of Sports Gambling in Australia by Titus O'Reily

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Front cover tail right corners, now protected with book tape. Interior and binding are still excellent.

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 sports 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 sports 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 sports 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? (back cover)