The Queensland government made $1.9 billion in gambling taxes last year, but only spent 0.6 per cent on harm minimisation programs.
A damning Queensland Audit Office report has taken aim at the state government's "inadequate" harm reduction strategies.
The report, tabled in state parliament, has revealed Queensland gamblers spent $56.4 billion in the 2022-23 financial year.
That amounts to 12 per cent of all the money spent in Queensland on goods and services that year.
The independent auditor found gambling taxes and levies increased 43 per cent over the past five years, but the amount spent on harm minimisation barely budged.
The report found the Department of Justice and Attorney-General's harm minimisation programs were hampered by low government funding and poor management.
"Inadequate governance and project management practices have hindered the department's efforts to implement these strategies," the report found.
"At the time of the audit, implementation of programs and initiatives was significantly behind schedule and had been subject to limited oversight.
"It is not effectively fulfilling its legislative mandate to minimise gambling harm."
Are we really reducing gambling harm?
The authors found the department had limited evidence on whether its harm minimisation programs actually worked.
From 2018-19 to 2021-22, the department spent $300,000 annually for gambling-related prevention, research, and evaluation programs.
Programs include brochures in GP clinics, gambling awareness campaigns, a gambling survey, First Nations-specific campaigns, and in-venue promotional materials.
However, the report found the department lacked knowledge into whether these programs effectively reduced or prevented gambling harm.
The department had spent $200,000 putting awareness brochures in GP clinics over the last five years, without "adequate evaluations" of the program's effectiveness, according to the report.
Where people are losing the most money to the pokies
Justice department data shows Queensland gambling losses have climbed 36 per cent since 2018-19, a total of $25.2 billion over five years.
Pokie machines made up the majority of gambling losses, with Queensland punters sinking $3.2 billion in 2022-23.
The amount lost to pokies was larger than all the casinos, lotteries, wagering operators, and Keno venues combined.
Regional Queenslanders lost significantly more to the pokies than inner-city Brisbanites, with the worst poker machine losers hailing from north Queensland.
The worst region on a per-capita basis was the northern outback, with each adult losing an average of $1,878 to the pokies in 2022-23.
The second worst was Mackay, Isaac and the Whitsundays, at $1,112 lost per adult resident, followed by Cairns at $980.
The most vulnerable groups included Aboriginal people, youths, culturally and linguistically diverse people, and domestic violence survivors.
The report noted that gambling help services were under-utilised in regional and remote areas, even though they had the highest rate of problem gamblers.
Additionally, the auditor's office warned the department's understanding of gambling prevalence and risks was "outdated", having been based on research from 2016-17.
New data on gambling prevalence by the Queensland Government Statistician's Office is not due to be published until June 2024.
A toothless code of practice
The report found Queensland did have a responsible gambling code of practice, but no way of actually enforcing it.
It found Queensland and Western Australia were the only jurisdictions with no legislated requirement for compliance.
The voluntary code of practice means the department has no power to enforce or impose penalties on gambling operators that violate it.
The authors noted that a review of the code of practice had stalled, and was not due to be completed until September 2024.
What can be improved?
The independent auditor report had a list of 10 key recommendations to prevent further harm to Queensland communities.
One of the recommendations was to create an enforcement mechanism to hold gambling operators accountable for breaking the responsible gambling code of practice.
Another was for Queensland to adopt the self-exclusion system used in other states, which allows problem gamblers to ban themselves from all gaming venues.
The authors recommended a system to identify "high-risk" gambling providers and subject them to compliance activities.
It also advocates a reassessment of the long-term funding needed for the department to effectively deliver its harm minimisation plans.
Queenslanders in crisis
Relationships Australia supports people and families impacted by problem gambling.
Queensland CEO Natasha Rae said she's not surprised by the surge in gambling.
"Our services are busier than they have ever been and they are ringing us in crisis," she said.
Ms Rae called for a substantial increase in harm reduction funding, to correspond with the rise in gambling.
"In the gambling help space, if someone's not available to help them right away, they might not reach out again for some time, so it's critical that when people reach out for help, someone's on the other end of the phone," she said.
"Without investment we are going to continue to see families in crisis and we're going to see the impact of gambling harm in an unacceptable way in our communities."
Treasurer Cameron Dick said the government would consider the report.
"We'll look at the Audit Office report," he said.
"We'll consider that carefully and if there's more we need to do out of that report, we of course will consider doing that," he said.