Labor and the Coalition have landed on a package of changes that will allow Australians to opt-out of gambling advertising online, clearing the way for the federal government’s wagering reform bill to pass through parliament this week.
At the heart of this agreement is a new wagering advertising opt-out register, which will be run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Individuals would register once and have their opt-out applied across all participating platforms. The concept borrows form the existing Do Not Call register used to block unwanted marketing calls.
The opt out register is part of an amendment to the existing Interactive Gambling Amendment bill. Under the plan, the register would be funded by the gambling industry through a new levy. The new levy will need to pass as its own separate bill through the House of Representatives. The register and rest of the amendments would be attached to existing gambling legislation later this week.
Communications Minister Anika Wells introduced a third bill covering the register alongside a set of measures on gambling inducements, developed in response to evidence given at a recent Senate inquiry.
The register is not expected to be running from 1 January 2027, when the broader advertising restrictions are due to come start.
Measures included in the three bills include tighter limits on direct marketing and social media promotions offering inducements to certain customers, as well as restrictions on how companies obtain consent for that marketing and a cooling-off period stopping inducements being sent to brand-new accounts or to people who have recently self-excluded through Betstop.
On broadcast advertising, gambling ads on television would be capped at three per hour between the hours of 6am and 8:30pm. It would also be banned during live sport with the exception of during breaks after 8:30pm. Ads will be banned from radio during school drop-off and pick-up periods. Professional athletes and celebrities would be barred from appearing in gambling ads or odds-style promotions that are aimed at sports fans.
Online advertising would only be permitted where a platform is able to implement a “triple lock” which includes a login profile, age verification and an advertising opt-out function. A three-year independent review of the laws are also expected to be added.
Commissions paid to VIP account managers based on how much their clients gamble would also be restricted. Sportsbet and Tabcorp are understood to have already ended this practice.
About fifteen amendments were put to a Labor backbench committee and the Coalition shadow ministry on Monday evening. The Coalition show cabinet has backed the package, making passage likely, although some MPs and Senators still see the reforms as too weak.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have met on several occasions to negotiate the amendments. The register emerged as a Coalition-proposed compromise after Albanese ruled out shifting to a full opt-in model for online gambling.
A Senate inquiry into the legislation produced a report this weekend with a single recommendation: that the be bill passed.
In an ABC interview, Senator Sarah Hansen Young described the reforms as “more of a smoke screen than it is a bill that’s actually going to protect people”.
Senator David Pocock believes “It leaves gambling advertising embedded in sport and across Australian media, shifts responsibility onto parents and preserves major parts of the system that have made Australians the biggest gambling losers in the world on a per capita basis.”
