Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced what he calls the 'most significant reform on gambling' Australia has ever seen, including a ban on gambling advertising in sports venues and caps on TV and radio broadcasts. The measures, revealed at the National Press Club on Thursday, fall short of key recommendations from a landmark 2023 report led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.
The new rules limit gambling ads to three per hour on broadcast television between 6am and 8:30pm, ban them from online platforms unless users over 18 log in, and prohibit celebrities and sports players from appearing in such ads. Ads are also banned from sports venues and on players' and officials' uniforms.
Albanese said the government will table a formal response to the Murphy report when parliament returns on 12 May. Murphy's husband, Rod Glover, said his wife would have been 'proud' of the progress, while the Alliance for Gambling Reform's Tim Costello called it a 'timid response'. Independent MP Kate Chaney described it as 'big on talk, small on substance'.
The government will also block illegal offshore gaming sites and ban online 'keno-type' products. Albanese emphasised the need to protect children from normalising gambling in sport, stating, 'We don’t want kids growing up thinking that footy and gambling are inextricably linked.'
