The federal government is being urged to ban gambling advertising during sporting events within three years, as the nation grapples with a crisis threatening the financial and mental health of many Australians.

A parliamentary committee has released the findings of its inquiry into the harm posed by online gambling, making 31 recommendations on how the industry should be regulated and how Australians struggling with addiction should be supported.

Among them is a proposal for a phased ban over three years on all advertising directing punters to websites and apps to place bets, along with greater federal oversight of the sector.

“People don’t like it — they feel they’re inundated with advertising, they are very concerned that children are exposed and exposed regularly to ads for sports betting,” committee chair and Labor MP Peta Murphy said.

“There’s a concern that we are producing, if we haven’t already produced, another generation of Australians who see sport and betting as intrinsically linked, and sport almost as a vehicle for which betting can occur.”

Ms Murphy argued Australians were among the biggest gambling losers anywhere in the world, and revealed previous attempts to regulate gambling advertising had failed to address the problem.

Currently, gambling advertisements cannot be aired within 5 minutes of a sporting event starting or finishing.

Some exceptions apply, including during breaks in long-form events such as cricket and tennis matches — but only after 8:30pm.

Betting companies can also have a representative promote betting odds during those times, as long as they are not at the sporting venue where the event is taking place and are clearly identified as not being members of the event commentary team.

“The restrictions that were bought in … had the unintended consequence of advertising outside of those times exponentially increasing,” Ms Murphy said.

“Australians feel like there’s more advertising because there is.

The gambling industry spent $310 million on advertising in 2022, according to Nielsen Research.

Ms Murphy said the gradual approach to ending gambling advertising would help broadcasters and sporting codes to find replacement revenue streams, and allow betting companies time to adjust to new restrictions.

“We did also hear evidence from the AFL and the NRL in particular about their reliance on sponsorship deals with betting companies,” she said.

“That’s why we’ve recommended a phased approach — because we know as happened, for example, when tobacco advertising was banned, that there are steps that need to be gone through and there will have to be mitigation worked out.

“But in the end, the committee accepted this is a public health issue, that that needs to be acted on.”

National gambling strategy needed to acknowledge ‘collective responsibility’

Ms Murphy said the inquiry heard devastating evidence from people who had suffered as a result of being hooked on online gambling, which prompted the committee’s demands for a national gambling strategy to be developed.

“Instead of saying it’s each individual’s responsibility to not gamble in a way that causes themselves or others harm, it’s acknowledging that in fact there’s a collective responsibility and a public health issue,” she argued.

“A national strategy needs to look at prevention — so education, early intervention, measures that make it easier for people to stop gambling if they’re experiencing harm, that make it harder for people to gamble in a way which leads to harm — and then better, more comprehensive treatment.”

Calls for greater federal oversight of gambling industry

Ms Murphy said regulation of online gambling across the country was “piecemeal”, noting a number of betting companies had registered their operations in the Northern Territory.

“There should be a national regulator for online gambling, because at the moment it’s regulated across the various states, with some input from the federal government under the Broadcasting Act,” she said.

“And in some ways, the Northern Territory Racing Commissioner has become the de facto regulator.

“It’s to do a little bit with the cost of buying a licence, it’s got to do with the nature of the regulatory oversight … the Northern Territory, one could say, has won the race to get most of the providers to get licensed in the Northern Territory, and we heard a number of concerns about whether that regulatory regime is really strong enough.”

The committee argued a national ombudsman was also required.

“That means that people who have complaints can find somewhere to go easily to have their complaints looked at, investigated and resolved,” Ms Murphy said.

Gambling advertising bans become a political fight

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton used his budget reply speech in May to propose a ban on gambling ads 1 hour before and after sporting matches, with the Coalition introducing a bill to try to bring about the change.

While it was unlikely the proposed law would ever have garnered enough support in federal parliament, it has put pressure on the government to tighten restrictions.

Loading…

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had been critical of the proposal and suggested the Coalition had dithered on the issue while in government.

Labor replaced the “Gamble responsibly” phrase used at the end of advertisements with new taglines such as “Chances are you’re about to lose” and “What’s gambling really costing you?”

It also intends to introduce legislation later this year to close a loophole which allows punters to use their credit cards while gambling online.

Ministers had been fending off questions from reporters about gambling reform, saying they were waiting on the committee looking into the issue to report back to parliament before proposing any changes.