Former NRL star and viral BookTok creator Luke Bateman told a parliamentary inquiry he was only 23 years old when gambling company promoters offered to supply him with illegal drugs.
“There were times where I would be flown interstate and taken to race days, put in marquees with alcohol and food provided all day, things like that,” Mr Bateman told the Senate inquiry into the federal government’s legislation to restrict gambling ads.
“Before getting there, your VIP manager would (say), ‘Hey, mate, what drugs do you want? Do you want a couple bags for this weekend?’”
The former Canberra Raiders forward who gambled away his NRL earnings told the inquiry on Monday the betting industry lacked a duty of care, calling on the Labor government to extend its plans to limit gambling advertisements.
Mr Bateman said he was 23 when he attended an exclusive event held by a betting company on the Gold Coast.
“The entire sort of C-suite of the company was there, all the management team, administration, and they were sort of all in a back room doing drugs together, and I was out in this room doing drugs with all of them,” he said.
“This is like the CEO, the founders, the VIP managers. And at that stage … I would have been a 23-year-old.
“I put my hand up, I was a willing participant of that, (but) these are men in positions of power with influence who should be looking out for your welfare, and this is the kind of behaviour that they are drawing you into, encouraging you into, and coaxing you into and normalising.”
The now 31-year-old author said gambling companies often sent him betting inducements as so-called “bonus bets” at a time where he was coping with a worsening addiction.
“There’s absolutely zero duty of care, absolute zero care for you as a human. There’s zero care for your wellbeing, for your mental state, absolutely nothing of that,” he said.
Mr Bateman described stealing money from his family and said if it hadn’t been for the constant “encouragement” from betting companies, the “harm would not have been anywhere near as much”.
Mr Bateman said he believed his gambling addiction cost him about $1m.
While he was earning $400,000 per year as a NRL player with the Canberra Raiders, he said he had no money.
The fantasy author has been outspoken publicly about his recovery from addiction.
He has since become a viral BookTok creator who has a three-book publishing contract after he was discovered online.
The two-day inquiry continues.
Originally published as Betting company supplied former NRL star with drugs, inquiry told