Many, many decades ago, a crowd nearing 100,000 used to watch and bet heavily on the heads of the Baron river rowing carnival. My understanding is they removed betting on it and the crowds faded. The most recent event there was barely attended by three dogs and a cat.
Remove all betting from horse racing and the industry would quickly fold. Not going to happen, but it exists due to gambling.
Footy has become more reliant on gambling than ever before, it's insidious.
Is the AFL now dependant upon gambling for survival?