The federal government’s attempts to keep its gambling advertising reform agenda under veil of secrecy appear to have failed, with a vocal group of crossbench politicians slamming Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s leaked plans to cap but not ban gambling advertising.
Minister Rowland called a host of stakeholders, including wagering service providers (WSPs), broadcasters and major sports bodies to Canberra last week, with participants obliged to sign non-disclosure agreements.
The political sensitivity of the government’s consultations with wagering companies necessitated a discrete approach, but details of the meetings have been leaked, with Nine mastheads, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review, reporting on their details at the weekend.
Those reports included proposed caps of two gambling ads per hour per channel, and a blanket ban on advertising gambling through social media. However, measures to ban sponsorship on sports jerseys and ground signage have yet to be addressed.
It is also believed broadcasts which feature a significant amount of racing content, said to be 70 per cent, will be carved out from the new reforms.
Those parties called to Canberra to discuss the changes have reportedly been given a week to get back to the government with feedback on the proposals. The government wants to get the changes through legislation by the end of 2024 to avoid it becoming a major federal election issue.
The reported proposals put to the industry broadly reflect those discussed by both the government and opposition leader Peter Dutton over the past 12 months.
With that in mind, the advertising reforms could achieve the support of both major parties, which would, in theory, avoid the need for the support of minor parties and the crossbench.
However, crossbenchers have reacted strongly to the leaked proposals.
Independent senator and former rugby international David Pocock slammed the proposed changes for falling well short of what was put forward by the ‘You Win Some, You Lose More’ parliamentary report, which was released in June last year, and chaired by Labor MP, the late Peta Murphy.
“What a total cop out & betrayal of the late Peta Murphy's legacy,” Pocock said on X.
“There is support in the parliament to implement the Murphy Review recommendations in full - not some watered-down policy to appease the gambling industry. Find some courage & end this harm.”
A furious Zoe Daniel, the independent MP for Goldstein, has been a long-term advocate for a blanket ban on gambling ads and accused Labor of “half-arsed, weak policy making” on social media.
“It is simply a bad business model to have sport leaning on gambling as a revenue source to survive and in doing so, doing harm to fans,” she later told 3AW.
“I can not tell you how many people come up to me in the street and say keep going, get these gambling ads banned.”
“This is absolutely ridiculous decision-making and it is driven by the gambling companies, the sporting codes and the broadcasters.”
In an extraordinary backfire from the government, the anti-gambling advertising lobby now has free rein on the issue until the details are made public, as those involved in the process are not permitted, under their non-disclosure agreements, to discuss the mooted changes publicly.
The debate will be driven by those with the strongest convictions until the full details are confirmed by the government.
The desire for discretion is, on the surface, understandable given the federal government, and Michelle Rowland in particular, have drawn scrutiny for their relationship with gambling companies.
She publicly stated in February last year that she would no longer take donations from gambling companies after it was revealed that she received $19,000 from Sportsbet before the 2022 federal election.
Bren O’Brien
That was before the ‘You Win Some, You Lose More’ report which set forward a major reform with 31 separate recommendations put forward by a bipartisan committee.
While that report has become the fulcrum of the movement for banning gambling advertising, an advertising ban was just one of those recommendations, No. 26.
That set out for the comprehensive ban of all forms of online gambling advertising. It would be introduced in four phases over the course of three years and it recommended an exemption for “dedicated racing channels and programming”.
“There is support in the parliament to implement the Murphy Review recommendations in full - not some watered-down policy to appease the gambling industry" - Independent senator David Pocock
Recommendation No.16 was the other one with significant implications for the wagering industry as it “recommends that the Australian government prohibit all online gambling inducements and inducement advertising, and that it do so without delay”.
There has also been no detail about the proposal to centralise questions around gambling reform under the power of one federal minister, nor the proposed establishment of a national gambling industry ombudsman.
It is believed that the decisions around sports jersey and on-ground sponsorships would be handled by a separate review by Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth.
PointsBet has revealed it will not continue its sponsorship with two NRL clubs.venues in 2025 as part of a move to reduce its advertising footprint.
