Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell revealed on Sunday Agenda that the plan, which would come into effect from 2025, would mean no sports pundits would be allowed to talk about betting odds during sports broadcasts.

“The government is considering, from 2025, a ban on gambling ads from one hour before sporting matches being telecast to one hour after they are telecast. This would mean no more pundits appearing during a game talking gambling odds,” Clennell said.

“Outside of that restricted time period, under this proposal, there would be a cap of two gambling ads an hour and a blackout during children’s programming.”

“The government also proposes a total ban on digital gambling advertising.”

The Albanese government has been working on a proposal to restrict gambling advertising for several months, with the issue being catapulted onto the national agenda in May 2023 when Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said that banning betting ads during sports broadcasts was the “right thing to do for families”.

However, Clennell said the government was taking its time because sporting codes, TV networks and bookmakers were pushing for restrictions on digital advertising rather than a total ban, as well as fewer restrictions on broadcast bans.

“They are also trying to negotiate less of a gambling broadcast ban – just for half an hour before a game until the end of the game, and for a cap of three ads per hour the rest of the time,” he said.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland declined to confirm details of the proposal when speaking to Sunday Agenda, telling Sky News Australia the government was “looking at a range of issues,” but had not yet made any decisions.

“The key issue here is threefold: We want to ensure that we protect children. We want to break the nexus between wagering and sport and we want to deal with the saturation of ads – particularly as that impacts on young men aged around 18 to 35,” she said.

“We want people to be excited about the game, not about the odds.”

Minister Rowland said the failure to address the issue of gambling ads had led to the development of an “overreliance on online wagering advertising”.

“While around three-quarters of overall gambling losses in Australia come from land-based gaming – so that’s poker machines, lotteries and casinos – we know that online sports wagering section is growing, and we need to deal with it well,” the minister said.

“It is something that needs to be dealt with. We want to be comprehensive as a government in our response, and we want to be forward-facing as well.”

Asked about a push by sports operators for the cap on TV gambling ads to be lifted to three ads per hour and for there to be a ban beginning half an hour before sports broadcasts and ending at the end of the game, Ms Rowland said the government was “consulting widely”.

“We’re consulting widely, and I appreciate the fact that we’ve had stakeholders from a wide variety of sectors, but also harm reduction advocates and experts in these areas,” she said.

“So this has been a process that we’ve been conducting in an orderly way, we’ll continue to do that, and our response here will be one that is comprehensive and is forward-looking as when we are doing this as expeditiously as possible.”

Minister Rowland also confirmed the racing industry would be excluded from the bans, stating “the government views racing as a separate category.”

“Horses and dogs in that context exist for betting, so we understand that,” she said.

“And we should also recognise that, particularly in some regional areas, this is an industry that supports 1000s and 1000s of jobs.

“It exists for a specific purpose. So we are being very mindful to be proportionate in this response.”