Take former AFL ruckman\/forward Daniel Gorringe (who revealed last year he \u201cwanted to be injured<\/a>\u201d to avoid the pressure of performing up to his status as a top 10<\/a> draft pick) and his former co-host (and teammate) Dylan Buckley, who spoke of \u201cvomiting and intrusive thoughts<\/a>\u201d pre-match, at one stage wishing he would be hurt on-field \u201cand not have to play for six weeks\u201d. Gorringe hosts Dan Does Footy, Australia\u2019s top sports podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n Axed by Carlton in 2017, and out of the AFL, Gorringe found himself with \u201cnothing in the bank, no purpose anymore \u2026 and it got to a real bad spot where I was seriously considering not wanting to be here<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n An ambassador for mental health training program Tackle Your Feelings<\/a>, he shows clear empathy for those who have been on the journey \u2013 common among athletes<\/a> \u2013 of performance anxiety and severe depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n The elephant in the studio<\/p>\n But what of others among the one in six<\/a> Australians who seriously contemplate suicide, who weren\u2019t elite athletes and took a different path<\/a> to that same dark place? On air at least, the now-feuding<\/a> Gorringe and Buckley ignore the elephant in the studio: problem gambling<\/a>, a known suicide precursor<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, Gorringe and others actively enable it<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTogether we ride the wave of each bet<\/a>,\u201d he told Sportsbet\u2019s website. That\u2019s right, readers: Daniel Gorringe, \u2018independent\u2019 podcaster with experiences of suicidal ideation, is the online face of Sportsbet<\/a>, a leading gambling website accused of promoting a known cause of suicide.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Sportsbet also sponsors Gorringe\u2019s\u00a0 NRL counterpart<\/a>, Get \u2018Em Onside, where the website\u2019s trader, Sean, previews the weekend\u2019s rugby league betting action. Its sponsorship dollars don\u2019t end when the footy does, with popular cricket podcast The Grubs also a member of the vast Sportsbet stable.\u00a0<\/p>\n Get \u2018Em Onside<\/p>\n In return, Gorringe and former NRL playmaker Joel Caine<\/a> (from Get \u2018Em Onside) provide insights, tips, and betting analysis via the company\u2019s online tipping platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not to be outdone, Buckley co-founded Producey, a podcast producer, and Clubby, a sports network which \u201chelps brands reach one of the hardest audiences to market to and connect with \u2013 the 18-34 year old male\u201d. There, he was joined by Sportsbet\u2019s former head of partnerships, Adam Pattison.<\/p>\n Podcasts on the Clubby roster include 200 PLUS, another Sportsbet cohort which went to extraordinary lengths to promote the thorny sport of greyhound racing<\/a> by buying an actual greyhound, Conqueror, and offering shares in the dog to its audience. \u201cKeep up to date with all things racing and the people\u2019s dog, Conqueror!\u201d, the podcast proudly proclaims<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another Clubby stablemate, comedian Broden Kelly (who hosts The Footy with Bro), explains gambling\u2019s sway over sports podcasters. Success in that medium is \u201chard to sustain unless you\u2019re at the ABC or take gambling money\u201d, he posted<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGambling companies target vulnerable creators and their ad space\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Image: Andrew Gardiner<\/p>\n Media and law graduate \u2018Tim\u2019 of Adelaide, who brought MWM\u2019s attention to what he called Gorringe and others\u2019 \u201chypocrisy\u201d on gambling, hit rock bottom himself just 12 months ago. \u201cI attempted suicide in October 2024 and I am so glad that I failed; I love my life (and) am now at a stage where I feel I can help others\u201d, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Saturation gambling ads in sports (which target 18-34 year old males like Tim) are a particular peeve of his. Tim finds it hard to believe young men like Gorringe, who contemplated suicide, can promote activities that place others in danger of the same fate.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also loathes politicians who effectively turn a blind eye. \u201cMPs from both of the major parties take blood money from gambling websites, so they\u2019re allowed to operate unregulated. It\u2019s disgusting,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet \u2026 gambling ad reforms stalled<\/p>\n Canberra has yet to formally respond to the 31 recommendations in 2023\u2019s \u2018You win some, you lose more\u2019 report, such as an hour-long blackout on ads before live sports broadcasts, and a limit of two ads per hour outside of this. Nonetheless, arguments for some kind of regulation seem compelling: the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation says there were 948 gambling ads<\/a> daily on the state\u2019s free-to-air television in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Tim says any new regulations on ads won\u2019t impact the gambling companies\u2019 online presence, adding that whatever rules emerge will do little to slow down the juggernaut that is online sports betting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Tim and MWM sent a number of questions to Clubby Sports, the most urgent of which were whether or not the company had put in place any strategies to mitigate the downside of sports betting, and what it was doing to support young males struggling with their mental health. We had not heard back from them by publication time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI watched (September\u2019s AFL Grand Final) with 20 of my best mates\u201d, Tim said. \u201cAbout 80 per cent of the room placed bets on the game through the Sportsbet app\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was harrowing\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Isolated \u2026 trapped<\/p>\n A case study on the influence and impact of online sports betting is \u2018Jack\u2019, whose shocking story aired on The Imperfects<\/a> podcast in 2023. Listeners were shocked by some of the tactics employed by companies to exploit \u2019Jack\u2019s\u2019 vulnerability.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was at my worst and I didn\u2019t have much money to my name \u2026 they would call me every couple of days\u201d, \u2018Jack\u2019 said. \u201cI had a personal contact at the betting company and they\u2019d call me and they\u2019d say, \u2018Jack if you deposit $100, we\u2019ll give you $300 extra dollars, could you do that now?\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI was living pay to pay, as a gambler I would get sucked in. So I\u2019d deposit (the money) and that money would last maybe a couple of hours max and then I\u2019d be back to square one\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt one point, I got a phone call: \u2018Jack, do you enjoy your AFL? We can see you bet on it quite a bit. Do you want a couple of tickets to the footy this weekend? You can come into the box\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I felt so isolated and trapped from my gambling (addiction), having that person (make an offer like that) made me feel special\u201d.\u00a0 But \u2018Jack\u2019 knows the low points, too, where that short-term buzz of excitement gives way to a brutal reality of financial strain, relationship problems, mental health decline, stress-related health issues, potential legal entanglements and, yes, thoughts of self-harm or suicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Jack\u2019 is just one of the 9.3 per cent<\/a> of Australian men (and rising) who bet on sports, a large number of whom wind up attempting suicide<\/a>. \u201c(It\u2019s) the sure way of getting nothing for something\u201d, American playwright Wilson Mizner once wrote.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The process of recruiting vulnerable Australians like Jack begins with the galaxy of retired stars and media personalities on the sports gambling payroll, happily providing tips or producing content on anything from television screens to streaming audio. But Tim\u2019s especially venomous when it comes to podcasters with mental health histories of their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cDaniel Gorringe contemplated suicide, and Dylan Buckley was in a tough place too. They ought to know better\u201d.<\/p>\n Revealed: 239 million reasons gambling reforms are being smothered<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ajg1.png\")
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