A former financial planner who stole millions of dollars from his clients to pay for his sports betting addiction has written to the Prime Minister from his prison cell. he is urging the government to immediately implement a raft of recommendations made last year to reduce the harm caused by online gambling.
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00:00It's pretty bad, hey mum?
00:06Four years ago, Gavin Feneff had to share the news with his family that his sports betting
00:10addiction had cost him around $8 million.
00:13A large proportion of that was money he stole from his clients.
00:18Innocent people have lost their money because of your gambling.
00:22How do you feel about that?
00:24I feel it when I wake up in the morning and all I want to do is make amends to it.
00:32Gavin is now in prison serving a maximum nine year sentence.
00:35Last year, a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling made 31 recommendations, including
00:41changes to the law that might have prevented his betting from spiralling out of control.
00:47At the heart of it, a public health approach to take away that stigma that meant that they
00:52couldn't reach out for help.
00:53Now Gavin has written a letter from prison urging the Prime Minister to act on the inquiry.
01:00The gambling companies know they are cultivating and exploiting addictions like the one I had.
01:05Please read the committee report and legislate each of its recommendations.
01:10Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is helping to distribute his letter to federal parliamentarians.
01:16I think it's a remarkable letter.
01:18As much as Gavin Feneff is the very first person to admit his guilt and to be remorseful,
01:25he also wants to see change.
01:26He doesn't want to see other people fall into the hole that he did through his addiction.
01:30One of the inquiry's recommendations was to ban inducements like bonus bets.
01:36Gavin says he was offered over a million dollars in free bets to keep him gambling.
01:41Until that report is implemented in full, including a ban on gambling advertising, I can draw
01:47no other conclusion that the government remains fearful of the gambling companies.
01:52In a statement, the Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland said the government is committed
01:56to minimising the harms from online wagering and will announce a comprehensive response
02:01to the parliamentary inquiry shortly.