Labor’s legislation to restrict gambling ads is set to pass this week, with the Greens calling the agreement ‘cowardly’
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Two Coalition MPs have crossed the floor after a deal between the major parties to pass Labor’s new restrictions on betting advertising and inducements, with crossbenchers and the Greens expressing anger and dismay at the contentious bill’s final form.
Anthony Albanese and the communications minister, Anika Wells, secured the support of the opposition to pass the bill, with amendments including tweaks to ad timing rules and some restrictions on inducements.
Wells called the package “the most significant reforms to online gambling in Australia’s history”. Albanese, in a speech to parliament, thanked the Coalition for its support and called the reforms “a result that will work”.
The independent senator David Pocock condemned the deal, calling it a “betrayal of all Australians” on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing. He said he would be voting against the bills in the Senate and derided the amendments as “tinkering” that didn’t go nearly far enough.
The reforms are set pass on Thursday, 1,149 days after the late Labor MP Peta Murphy handed down her landmark report on gambling harms, which recommended a total ban on inducements and wagering ads.
Labor’s final version of the bill, with amendments agreed by the Coalition, will not meet either of those recommendations. Instead, the communications regulator will set up a one-stop “opt-out register” – the details and design of which is yet to be made clear – to allow Australians to elect against receiving gambling ads, while inducements will only be limited in some circumstances.
The register could take up to 12 months to be set up, government sources said, conceding the system would be complex and unlikely to be ready by 1 January 2027. Albanese referred to the system as “AdStop” in parliament, likening it to the self-exclusion register BetStop, but it’s understood this will not be its official name.
Gambling industry sources questioned how the opt-out register would operate, how long it would take to set up, as well as privacy issues around handling of user data. Wagering companies – who will be obliged to pay for the register – also questioned how much it would cost.
The shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, said the register idea had come from the Coalition.
She said the Coalition envisioned that “anyone seeking to serve gambling ads online will be required to sweep that register to make sure that if someone opts out on the register, that all publishers of gambling ads will comply with the law.”
Wells said all inducement ads would be banned for any customer “identified as at risk of gambling-related harm”, for 14 days after someone had signed up with a wagering service, and for three months after someone had deregistered from Betstop.
Tuesday’s amendments would also ban commissions on customer losses for gambling staff or affiliates.
“We have listened to the range of views across the community and the parliament, which showed us the most toxic version of inducements – and we are taking action to address this,” Wells said.
