Australia PM: Poker machines and lottery “overwhelmingly” behind problem gambling

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has doubled down on his claim that pokies and lotteries are causing more harm than sports betting as the advertising debate Down Under continues to rumble on. 

Though Albanese did concede that Australians are currently being exposed to a large number of adverts for sports betting, the 61-year-old pointed to poker machines and lotteries as significantly more problematic.

Speaking to ABC Perth today, 24 September, ahead of the AFL Grand Final this weekend, Albanese was pressed for comment on whether gambling adverts would be banned sooner rather than later. 

The PM is under increasing pressure to implement a blanket ban on gambling adverts, as requested by the late Peta Murphy, a fellow Labor member, but it appears his preference is a cap system.

As per fresh reports from Sky News Australia,  that would involve no more than two gambling adverts per hour on each channel until 10pm, as well as a total ban one hour either side of live sport. 

A ban on gambling ads around children’s programming and a digital blanket ban are also reportedly set to come into force.

When asked if a total ban was in the pipeline, the Australian PM raised the concerning impact of poker and lotteries has on gambling harm.

Albanese said: “Well, certainly what we want to do is to reduce the impact and the harm that gambling advertising is causing, and we’re taking action to do that. 

“Will [a blanket ban] solve the problem? The problem here is that sport gambling represents under 5% of the problem gambling issue.

“Overwhelmingly, it’s about poker machines. Then it’s followed by lotteries and lotto tickets and those issues as well. So, I know that as much as anything else it can be annoying, the breaking up of ads, but we’re looking at a range of options.” 

ABC host Mark Gibson also challenged the prime minister on the efficacy of Australia’s self-exclusion register, BetStop, after reports emerged a Sydney resident lost A$70,000 despite being registered with the scheme.

Albanese said: “This person changed his name, changed all of his details, including his email address and other details to get around it. So, this has been identified. We’ll examine it.  

“And of course, when someone tries to get around a regulation, what you do is you make sure you tighten it to shut that down. And that certainly is what the authorities will do. But whenever you have some form of regulation, it is the case that people will try and get around it.” 

Albanese’s latest comments come just days after he told ABC Radio National’s breakfast show  he will not bend to public pressure over the prospect of a blanket gambling advertising ban. 

His comments were met with pushback from host Patricia Karvelas, who suggested experts had come to the conclusion that a blanket ban would be the most effective method to reduce the rate of gambling-related harm in the country. 

“Well, they don’t all say that at all,” Albanese responded. “The experts say that the problem here with this debate, Patricia, is the problem isn’t advertising. The problem is gambling. That’s the problem.  

“And when you look at almost 70% of problem gambling is about poker machines, an additional 15% is about lotteries and lottos. I haven’t seen a campaign about advertising in lotteries and Lotto, which is a far bigger problem than sports gambling.” 

Advertising media outfits have argued that the loss of revenue from the gambling industry would lead to the eventual demise of free-to-air television.

According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), gambling companies spent just over $238m on advertising in the 12 months to April 2023.