He urged the Labor Government to go further than its current advertising reforms and impose stronger limits on gambling promotion.

Bateman told the inquiry he once attended a high-profile event hosted by a betting operator on the Gold Coast where senior figures within the company, including executives and VIP staff, were involved in drug use at the gathering.

“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.”

Bateman estimated his gambling losses were at about A$1 million ($1.19m) over the course of his addiction.

Despite earning about A$400,000 a year during his time with the Canberra Raiders, he said his gambling habit left him with no savings and little to show for his income.

Australia has the world’s highest per-capita gambling losses, with adults losing an average A$1635 a year in 2022, according to a report by the Grattan Institute, far exceeding similar countries like A$809 in the US and A$584 in New Zealand.

The report said Australians lost about A$24 billion gambling in 2022, mostly on pokies and betting.