More than a year after the Murphy report was released in which the chair, late Labor MP Peta Murphy, recommended a total ban on gambling ads be introduced over three years, the Albanese Government is under pressure to deliver on those recommendations. However, it now seems apparent that there will be exceptions.
The government’s plan includes a ban on gambling ads online, in children’s programming, during live sports broadcasts and an hour either side, but limited to two an hour in general TV programming.
It does not prevent gambling companies from advertising on sports jerseys or on signs in stadiums – both of which appear on TV broadcasts.
Google’s search engine has reportedly secured an exemption from the government’s proposed crackdown on gambling advertising because wagering firms will still be able to buy “sponsored” results on some search terms, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Betting companies spend more than $300 million on advertising each year.
While the government’s plan includes a blanket ban on betting ads on social media and other digital platforms, Google’s search platform has a carve-out for wagering-related terms.
Google search results generally fall into two categories: organic and paid. Organic results are based on how relevant a website is to what a user has searched for and paid results are listed as sponsored at the top of search terms.
According to digital advertising group IAB Australia, search engines made $6.6 billion in Australia in 2023. Google is the giant in the market.
The government’s proposed exemptions are already coming under fire. “Anything short of a blanket ban will just move ad revenue around, as we saw with tobacco,” said teal independent Kate Chaney. “A carve-out allowing sponsored content on search engines would be the thin edge of the wedge.”
Wagering companies, expectedly, have opposed the ban and warn against overregulation. “In Australia, we’ve already got a 15 per cent offshore market,” Kai Cantwell from industry lobby group Responsible Wagering Australia told ABC Radio National. “That’s $1.6 billion Australian punters are betting on illegal offshore websites. In Norway, for example, the illegal offshore market is now 66 per cent of the entire market; in Sweden, 59 per cent; in Spain, 20 per cent; in Italy, 23 per cent. And this is as a result of, directly, overregulation.”
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said this week that free-to-air TV broadcasters are in “diabolical trouble” and many need gambling ad revenue to stay afloat, while arguing against a total prohibition of gambling advertising on television.
According to Nielsen Ad Intel data, $162 million in gambling ad spend was directed to the TV market alone in the year to April 2023.
According to Freedom of Information documents obtained by independent MP Kate Chaney, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s office had held 66 meetings about gambling reform in the six months to December 2023, as gambling companies, sporting bodies, media businesses, and advocacy groups demand to have their voices heard.
Rowland has reportedly spent the last week meeting with stakeholders to share the government’s proposed reforms, with this Friday believed to be the final deadline for the feedback.