The federal government’s reforms to wagering advertising are gathering pace with Communications Minister Michelle Rowland presenting details of the proposed changes to her fellow Labor MPs on Monday.
Rowland called major stakeholders, including wagering companies, to Canberra two weeks ago and got them to sign confidentiality agreements before briefing them on the likely changes. However, details of the proposed reforms were leaked to the media.
The major reforms would see only two betting ads per hour on television between 6am and 10pm, no betting ads for an hour around live sport on television and a complete ban on ads on social media and non-racing websites.
Rowland will need to convince her Labor colleagues that the reforms reflect the intent of the You Win Some, You Lose More parliamentary report, which set out 31 recommendations for reform.
The scope of Rowland’s proposals are expected to be hotly contested within the party room, with those on the left of Labor believing reforms don't go far enough.
The Straight can reveal key areas of reform including bookmakers’ ability to offer inducements and bookies being allowed to have stadium naming rights and shirt sponsorships will not form part of this round of reform.
This means these key issues won't be dealt with until after the next federal election at the earliest.
Also being pushed back for further discussion is debate about advertising in print media: for example the key question of whether bookmakers will be allowed to sponsor racing form guides in papers.
Wagering Service Providers (WSP) have calculated that if all inducements and gratuities were banned, as recommended in the You Win Some, You Lose More report, it could cost the racing industry around $300 million in the first year.
Of the reforms set to be discussed by Rowland with her Labor colleagues this week, WSPs are particularly concerned with the ban on social media. The provided their feedback to the proposals last week.
They have stated the funnel of customers from social media is important in customer acquisition and will argue that advertising should be allowed on platforms that allow age blocking (no advertising to children) and the ability for people to opt out from seeing gambling ads.
Bren O’Brien
One Labor source said: "The minister is expecting this debate to be pretty heated, there will be plenty of people from the left faction that will want to go further than Rowland will propose."
“The minister knows how explosive a subject like gambling reforms can be, but she has tried hard to develop a sensible policy that delivers significant reform but doesn't damage the sporting codes or racing."
"It is also a policy pitched to try and ensure it can get the backing of the Opposition."
Last year, Opposition leader Peter Dutton called for an advertising ban an hour either side of live sport.
"The minister knows how explosive a subject like gambling reforms can be."
In his budget reply speech in 2023, Dutton claimed “bombardment of betting ads” was “changing the culture of our country in a bad way and normalising gambling at a young age”.
Former Liberal Prime Ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull were among more than 70 prominent Australians who signed an open letter last week calling on the federal government to ban gambling advertising.
