Aussie rugby league star quit with $250k gambling debt

A National Rugby League star has revealed how, at the height of his career, gambling took over his life.

Former Canberra Raiders forward Luke Bateman confessed that, despite earning $400,000 a year, his gambling addiction left him “so broke” he “couldn’t buy groceries”.

Australia has some of the highest rates of gambling in the world. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the country’s gambling expenditure topped $31 billion in 2022-23.

‘Dark times’

Bateman told ABC News that in 2019 his gambling had progressed to such a point that “it consumed my life. Every single thing I did revolved around that gambling app on my phone”.

“I had $70,000 or $80,000 in my bank account, and in the space of a month, I had nothing.”

Mum Leanne recalls that her son’s gambling “got really bad. He had no money. He would literally be borrowing off family and friends.” She continued: “They were very dark, hard times.”

So dark, in fact, that Bateman contemplated suicide: “I was just so filled with shame, and I couldn’t share it. I was just in so much pain. I saw no way out.”

He reached a point where he could only see two options: “either end my life or I get help”. With his parents’ assistance, he spent time in a rehabilitation clinic, quit rugby, and set to work in the family logging business. The former rugby star has now cleared his debts.

‘Voice for change’

Bateman does not believe that proposals passing through the Australian Parliament to limit gambling advertising – including capping daytime adverts on television to three an hour and banning betting promotions during live matches – “will move the needle at all when it comes to gambling harm”.

He explained: “I would love to see all gambling advertising phased out, and for all incentives that gambling companies can offer a customer to be banned.”

Nor does the recovering gambler believe “parliamentarians are doing anywhere near enough” to protect “young people from the harms that gambling companies and gambling itself causes”.

As an advocate for action, Bateman concluded: “I understand that I have the position, the power, and the voice that can create change, that can change people’s lives, and I don’t want to squander that.”