In Australia, gambling is a socially accepted behaviour, actively encouraged through more than $287 million dollars of advertising spending per year, and a source of more than seven billion dollars of revenue per year for governments. Gambling revenue for sporting bodies is also significant although exact figures are hard to obtain. Culturally, gambling behaviours are celebrated, ritualised, and even mythologised.

Through public discourse and advertising, gambling has become intrinsically linked to our everyday activities, and in particular the Aussie notion of mateship. We are encouraged to gamble with our friends, gamble while consuming alcohol to make it more fun, gamble in social venues, while eating, and on our mobile devices. We are encouraged to share our betting wins, near wins, and losses with friends and loved ones. We laugh, cry, yell, and cheer for our team/horse, talk about sporting events in terms of betting odds, and impress ourselves and others with our betting skills and knowledge of the form/ event. And of course, we share our expertise/ knowledge with our friends and loved ones.