Australian parliamentary inquiry calls for a total gambling ad ban within three years
Proposed ban comes as part of a 31-point plan to help mitigate the detrimental effects of gambling in what could lead to major regulatory changes
An Australian parliamentary inquiry has called for a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising as part of major recommendations for change in the market.
As part of its “You win some, you lose more” inquiry, the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs has laid out a 31-point plan to help mitigate the impact of gambling on Australians.
The call for a phased comprehensive ban on online gambling advertising within three years is the standout recommendation in the report.
In its recommendation, the Committee outlined four tranches in which the ban should be introduced.
The first is to prohibit inducements, a ban on advertising across social media and online platforms, as well as during news and current affairs broadcasts. The first tranche would also include the banning of ads during school drop-off and pick-up times.
The next phase would be to ban all online gambling advertising and commentary on odds an hour before, after and during sports broadcasts, as well as on teams’ kits and in stadiums.
The third phase would introduce the banning of broadcast ads between 6:30am and 10pm and the final phase, by the end of year three, would see the total banning of all gambling advertising and sponsorship.
In a statement within the report, the Committee said: “While online gambling is a legal product that some adult Australians can enjoy safely, online gambling and gambling advertising is harming Australians, particularly children, young people and those experiencing gambling addictions.
“The current rules allowing gambling’s widespread advertising do not appropriately reflect its potential for harm and are clearly not meeting community expectations.
“Online gambling has been deliberately and strategically marketed alongside sport, which has normalised it as a fun, harmless and sociable activity that is part of a beloved pastime.
“Australians have been taught to believe they are a culture of gamblers, but never hear about addiction, gambling disorder, the lives that are cut short to suicide, the broken families and ruined relationships, the debt, bankruptcy and poverty, the shame and stigma or the prison sentences.”
Alongside the call for a ban on advertising, the inquiry also recommended a series of radical changes for the government to implement.
These include creating a new comprehensive national strategy on online gambling harm reduction, to be supported by national regulation, and a new national gambling regulator to reduce harm.
This new strategy should also encompass an online gambling ombudsman, a harm reduction levy on online operators, a public education campaign with more independent research and improved data collection.
The inquiry also recommended a crackdown on illegal operators and stronger consumer protections from licensed firms, including a requirement for operators to verify a customer’s identity before accepting a bet.
In response to the findings of the inquiry and the report published by the Committee, Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said that Australia must put a public health lens on its efforts to combat gambling harm like it does with smoking.
Costello praised the work of the Committee and said the listed recommendations were “absolutely justified”, given, in his opinion, the weak approach to gambling the government has had until this point.
He added: “This Committee, led by Labor MP Peta Murphy, had done an incredible job to lift the lid on the ugly underbelly of gambling in Australia and delivered a comprehensive raft of recommendations that now must be adopted.
“This is an issue that is too important to become a political football; we urge both major parties to give this bipartisan support to these recommendations today.”
There has been increasing pressure on the government to regulate the sector, with a major push coming from independent MP Zoe Daniel, as well as Labor MPs and opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Last month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that ads during sports broadcasts were “annoying” but did not outline his policy while awaiting the report.
The government has already introduced new mandatory harm-minimisation messages on gambling advertising, as well as banning the use of credit cards for online wagering and restricted loot boxes in video games.