Overdue anti-gambling ad rules are nowhere near enough, says Tim Costello

During a National Press Club address in the shadows of the Easter break, last Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the introduction of caps on the number of gambling ads allowed on broadcast and online platforms, as well as a ban on betting companies having exposure on sporting uniforms and in stadiums.

The new measures will see betting agencies allowed to air only three television adverts per hour between 6 am and 8.30 pm, with all radio gambling ads banned during “school drop-off and pick-up times”.

Costello slammed the measures, saying, “Imagine three cigarette ads per hour.”

Sporting commentators will no longer be allowed to refer to betting odds, the use of celebrities and athletes to promote gambling will be banned, and illegal gaming sites will be blocked.

However, Costello, in his role as chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform,

said the measures did not go far enough, and he was particularly critical of the rule that holders of online gambling accounts aged over 18 years would need to opt out if they didn’t want to see online betting adverts.

“Not a single parent in this country would opt in to their kids seeing gambling ads – that’s why it’s opt out. Many people will forget or not realise, and it just puts greater onus on parents to always be logging in and opting out of countless apps and sites. It’s ridiculous,” Costello said.

“We know parents struggle to keep up with a constantly changing digital landscape, and like the social media ban, kids pretty quickly find a way around these things – that’s my biggest worry”, he said.

“The government should not claim they are protecting kids from gambling advertising by asking parents to opt out. The onus should be squarely on the gambling companies and the platforms.”

In announcing the restrictions, Prime Minister Albanese said the government had gotten the balance right, “letting adults have a punt if they want to, but making sure that our children don’t see betting ads everywhere they look.”

“We don’t want kids growing up thinking that footy and gambling are inextricably linked. We want Australians to love sport for what it is,” he said.

The CEO of Responsible Wagering Australia, Kai Cantwell, who used to be the chief of staff to the gambling minister in the former Coalition government, called the announcement “a real kick in the guts for the industry”, saying it had arrived with “no heads-up and no genuine consultation”.

“This sector contributes almost $6 billion to the Australian economy, supports around 30,000 jobs, and provides critical funding to sport, racing and broadcast industries across the country,” he said.

But Costello said the government had blinked in not introducing all 31 of the recommendations from the Peta Murphy Report into online gambling harm, delivered more than 1000 days ago by a cross-party parliamentary committee.

The late Peta Murphy’s recommendations included a total ban on gambling ads on all broadcast and online platforms so children were no longer exposed to gambling on their screens; a ban on gambling inducements and inducement advertising, to stop companies from offering free bets and promotions to people who were trying to walk away from gambling; and the establishment of a national regulator.

“Australian children deserve to grow up in a country that puts their wellbeing before corporate profits,” Costello said.

“The live sport ban does nothing to break the nexus between gambling and sport as the prime minister has said he wants to do,” he said. “This doesn’t change the status quo and leaves the before- and after-match programs open to screen ads – and we know kids are watching those. They should be considered part of the sporting broadcast for these purposes.

“If, as the prime minister has said, his government wants to minimise children’s exposure to wagering advertising, these initiatives won’t work. Such a piecemeal approach fails our children,” Costello said.

Greens communications spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young also accused the government of not standing up to the powerful gambling lobby by falling short in the announced reforms.

“Squibbing it on gambling reform because you don’t have the guts to stand up to the gambling lobby just says everything about this prime minister,” she told reporters.

“These gambling industries are trying every which way to get into the faces and the minds of Australians, particularly younger people, and it’s insidious, it’s predatory,” she said.

“The only way you stop it is by having a complete ban on online ads, and to do the full suite of recommendations from the Murphy report.”

The senator said the government did not have the numbers to pass the measures through the Upper House without the support of the Greens or the Coalition, suggesting the Greens would be looking to discuss more stringent restrictions.

Major online bookmaker SportsBet, which is Irish-owned, said the new reform measures were “severe and far-reaching”.