Controversy as poker machine donation funds endometriosis institute

A US$50m pledge to establish an endometriosis research centre has divided academics and public health experts over the ethics of accepting funding linked to the poker machine industry.

The 10-year commitment will support what is being described as a world-first institute focused on accelerating diagnosis and developing precision-based treatments for a condition affecting around 1 million women in Australia.

While researchers have welcomed the investment in women’s health, others have questioned whether universities should accept donations from a family with longstanding ties to an industry associated with gambling-related harm, The Guardian reports.

In May, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) announced the creation of the Ainsworth Endometriosis Research Institute, supported by three generations of the Ainsworth family.

Len Ainsworth, a key figure in the family, founded poker machine giant Aristocrat Leisure in 1958 and later established Ainsworth Game Technology.

The funding announcement has renewed focus on the scale of poker machine losses in New South Wales, where residents lost an average of US$24m per day across nearly 90,000 machines in the first three months of this year.

Andrew Hayen, professor of biostatistics at the University of Technology Sydney, described endometriosis as “an area of women’s health that is long overdue for investment” but raised concerns about the source of the funding.

He said: “Poker machines are a key driver of gambling addiction, financial distress, family violence and mental ill health.

“These harms are not abstract. They are experienced every day by individuals and families, many of them women.

“There is no doubt that more funding is urgently needed for endometriosis research.

“But accepting philanthropic donations sourced from an industry built on public harm creates a troubling contradiction.

“It is hard to imagine any university in Australia today accepting donations from the tobacco industry. We should apply a similar level of scrutiny here.”

Akeel Feroz, partnerships and innovation manager at UNSW Canberra, who was not involved in the fundraising, said Hayen had raised “a valid concern” but added, “Our moral obligation must be to the patients suffering today.

Feroz said: “The women waiting years for diagnosis don’t have the luxury of perfect funding sources, they need solutions now.

“With proper research safeguards in place, this funding could have a tremendous positive impact on the lives of women.”

Kate Da Costa, who leads gambling advocacy at Wesley Mission, said her organisation refuses to accept donations linked to poker machines.

Da Costa said: “We can’t campaign to minimise gambling harm while taking their money.

“Although it’s a very tricky ethical space to start to navigate, those of us in gambling reform can take heart that at least the conversations are now under way.”

A UNSW spokesperson said the university had accepted the donation in “good faith” with the “expectation and intention” that it would benefit the community.