00:00In this Darwin office block, six people oversee an industry worth tens of billions of dollars.
00:13Mostly career anti-public servants, they regulate Australia's gambling behemoths.
00:19If America's blind spot is guns, ours is gambling.
00:23The rest of the world look at us and say, it is the wild west, it is totally out of control.
00:29Meeting once a month, the NT Racing and Wagering Commission is in charge of scrutinising 36 corporate bookmakers,
00:37including giants like Ladbrokes, Bet365 and Sportsbet,
00:42who've based themselves in the territory for its low fees and taxes.
00:47Bookies will always go to the place where the regulation is weakest.
00:52After putting himself on a self-exclusion register while battling an online gambling addiction,
00:57Mark Kempster was still pestered by NT-based bookmakers and subsequently made complaints to the commission.
01:05I would be waiting weeks and months sometimes to get feedback or to find out what's happening with my case.
01:10Like, they are such a small fish and they're not prepared and have the right resources to actually undertake the regulation of a whole national industry.
01:21The commission's chair disputes that.
01:24We are working through a bit of a backlog at the moment, but we're confident that we have that under control.
01:30Despite its crucial role regulating online gambling, several of the commission's members have links to the industry.
01:38Scott Perrin is the former chief executive of Racing Victoria's television network Racing.com.
01:45Ian Curnow last year held chairs in racehorse Talima.
01:49And Talima will lead all the way, Talima.
01:51And Alistair Shields, chair of the commission, has received hospitality gifts from industry insiders.
01:58So you do take gifts from corporate bookmakers at things like the Darwin Cup or not?
02:04I have in the past attended the Darwin Cup as a guest.
02:07Of bookmakers?
02:08Yes.
02:09Mr Shields has also owned shares in racing thoroughbreds and is a director of Greyhounds Australasia,
02:16the national peak body for greyhound racing, but he insists that's not a problem.
02:22I'm satisfied that there are very robust processes in place that deal with any conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interest.
02:31Mr Shields pledged any industry links are declared in commission meetings,
02:36however declined the ABC's request for a list of members' register of interests.
02:42The NT's racing minister, who has responsibility for the commission,
02:46has also taken tickets from Sportsbet and Tabcorp, which she's declared.
02:52Many ministers from across many generations have accepted those things.
02:56And this is how utterly absurd the whole situation is.
03:00A landmark inquiry chaired by late Labor MP Peter Murphy
03:04found one of two reasons for Australia's world-leading gambling losses was insufficient regulation.
03:11The report included a recommendation that a national regulator be established,
03:16something the Albanese government has failed to deliver.
03:20They know the harm that the industry is doing because they can see it in the report
03:23that's sitting on the Prime Minister's desk at the moment, which he's refusing to look at.
03:27If you open those pages up, you can see the damage that this industry is doing to Australia every day.
03:32The government says it's still working through the report's recommendations,
03:36while the coalition says it has a clear approach to gambling reform.
03:40But with no pledges this election campaign,
03:43the Darwin office will remain the epicentre of gambling regulation in Australia for now.
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