The NRL going to Las Vegas is proof gambling steers our sports

And if ARL Commission Chair Peter V'landys's grand plan comes to fruition, President Trump may also be there to make rugby league great again.

The exporting of the opening round to the city that is the symbolic global capital of gambling is simply the natural outcome of a spovrt that has sold its soul to gambling.

It wouldn't be so bad if that were the end of it.

But the NRL and the AFL, now fully addicted to gambling revenue, are also the prime opponents of critically needed gambling reform in Australia.

Without such reforms, without the restraining of a predatory gambling industry, Australia will remain the biggest per capita losers from gambling in the world.

Our losses amount to a staggering $31 billion a year.

And with the NRL set to expand into Papua New Guinea in the future - underpinned by funding from the Australian taxpayer - the harm gambling causes will also be exported.

The 10 million PNG citizens certainly are passionate about the game, and there could be unifying national benefits for a nation with 17 per cent of all the world's languages.

The diplomatic "coup" which will involve Australia giving $600 million to PNG also includes a clause to encourage PNG to do no future deals with China.

But unmentioned in this rather unusual sports diplomacy - for security guarantees is the $290 million of taxpayers' money going to the NRL.

It is further indication, if any was needed, that V'landys - a fierce critic of gambling reform - has totally captured our Prime Minister.

So captured, that despite Anthony Albanese's promises to respond to the late Peta Murphy's inquiry and recommendation for a total gambling ad ban, he has simply refused to respond.

The Prime Minister has shelved any reform, and Peter V'landys is cheering.

I was in Port Moresby in September speaking with health and welfare professionals.

Though they love their NRL, there was huge trepidation because NRL gambling ads were already doing great damage there, and a local team sponsored by gambling could trigger a massive spike in domestic violence, addiction and greater poverty.

That is the devastating trajectory both at home in Australia and in PNG, unless the Murphy report is implemented, reclaiming the sport from the effective ownership of sports betting companies, and allowing PNG to have a team without gambling on steroids.

We know that here in Australia where there is problem gambling in a family there is three times more likelihood of domestic violence. It is why the PM's Rapid Review Inquiry on Domestic Violence recommended a ban on gambling ads.

We know that gambling on sport has doubled in the last five years here.

We know that 25 per cent of young men gambling on sport now have a problem with gambling.

Noel Pearson has spoken of gambling damaging Indigenous communities.

Polls show that more than 70 per cent of Australians want a full gambling ad ban. With the election looming, why hasn't the government (or the opposition) seized on this as a popular move that would ease cost-of-living pressure and combat deep social damage?

The answer is the capture of the Albanese government by Peter V'landys and the vested sporting and media interests.

The AFL and NRL now get millions each from gambling ads.

They get a cut on every bet placed on an AFL or NRL game, sponsorship dollars and inflated free-to-air television rights paid for by gambling ads.

We know that our much-loved football codes are the Trojan horse for a massive expansion in gambling.

The NRL games being played in Las Vegas are clearly all about the gambling revenue opportunity.

The former boss of the AFL who introduced the first AFL wagering sponsorship deals, Gil McLaughlin, is now the CEO of TAB Corp.

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Our footy codes are hopelessly captured and we are exporting all this with taxpayers' dollars to PNG.

Parents aghast at the over one million gambling ads a year on free-to-air TV and desperate to protect their children have no chance against these vested interests.

There was outrage when former PM Scott Morrison had Brian Houston of Hillsong on his guest list for his special White House dinner with President Donald Trump.

In my mind there should have been outrage that our PM took Peter V'Landys to his special White House dinner with then-president Joe Biden.

When I met Mr Albanese two months back, I could not believe he was simply repeating Peter V'landy's denialism of the corrosive impact of gambling ads, and his ridiculous claims lotteries did more damage.

With the election soon due, it is time for voters to speak and to speak louder than the vested interests that are blocking critical gambling reform that will make our society better.