Anthony Albanese has said that he finds gambling ads during sporting events “annoying” but would not be drawn on whether the ongoing review into gambling advertising will result in an outright ban.
“I don’t want to pre-empt the review which is under way,” the Prime Minister told the Guardian.
“But on a personal level, I find them annoying.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton proposed a ban on sports betting advertising during broadcasts and for an hour on each side of sporting fixtures last week during his budget reply speech.
Dutton said that the “bombardment” of ads took the “joy” out of televised sports adding that “footy time is family time.”
“Worse, they are changing the culture of our country in a bad way and normalising gambling at a young age,” he added.
Albanese, meanwhile, took umbrage with Dutton’s speech and said that he found his opposite number’s support of a ban surprising, saying the Coalition “did nothing for nine years on any of those issues.”
“We’ve been in government for a year and we’ve got a review,” said Albanese, “that we initiated after we’ve already changed the advertising guidelines and strengthened them regarding any advertising for gambling.”
The Prime Minister also noted that his government had sought new harm-minimisation messages on adverts, banned the use of credit cards for online gambling and restricted gambling-like activity in video games.
Any move to ban gambling adverts during sporting events would likely be met with a fierce backlash from the wagering industry.
Sportsbet’s CEO told the government’s inquiry that a “balance” needed to be struck on regulations for gambling ads on free-to-air TV, despite community sentiment.
“One of the things we hold dear in Australia is the ability to watch sport on free-to-air television without paying a subscription, to have great content on free-to-air television and television costs money. Television is funded by advertising,” said Barni Evans.
Pressure has been ramping up on the advertising industry and its advertising with ACMA and Ad Standards hitting Sportsbet and Kayo with warnings for breaching their respective advertising codes in the last two months