Australian politicians reportedly received US$147,000 in match tickets from sports leagues
Prime minister Anthony Albanese is named in the report.
Australia.- An investigation conducted by Reuters has claimed that between mid-2023 and early 2025, Australian politicians accepted about AU$245,000 (US$147,000) in match tickets from the country’s most popular sporting leagues as part of lobbying efforts against proposed legislation to ban online gambling ads.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese had pledged to address gambling-related ads following a 2023 inquiry that recommended a ban across all media. However, there has been no progress on the matter since it was removed from the legislative agenda in 2024.
Reuters says that Albanese received tickets valued at around AU$29,000 (US$18,500), mostly to grand finals and games played by his NRL team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Opposition leader Peter Dutton accepted tickets worth an estimated AU$21,000 (US$13,600).
The gifts are said to be part of a campaign by the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS) to lobby politicians with messaging against an ad ban. They invited politicians to events and seated them close to sports body officials, mostly from the NRL and AFL, who were briefed on how to discuss the impact of a ban.
An unnamed source said members of the COMPPS shared information about which politicians to target based on who was influential in government or passionate about a particular sport.
Both the NRL and AFL expressed opposition to a ban. The AFL suggested an “alternative regulatory framework” in an email to the PM dated October 1 and made public after a request for information from independent senator David Pocock. Pocock said: “It is appalling that 18 months after the landmark report into online gambling harm, and after a full term of a Labor government, the prime minister has failed to take any meaningful action to ban gambling ads.”
In February, the Australian Greens party released a letter sent to communications minister Michelle Rowland in which the party offered Labor a compromise on gambling ads. It offered to amend its Ban Gambling Ads Bill to favour a partial rather than total ban as long as action came soon. The draft bill had its second reading on February 5, and there have been no developments since then.
Gambling losses amount to US$960 per adult in Australia, study finds
A report by Equity Economics for the Alliance for Gambling Reform and Wesley Mission found that gambling losses continue to grow in Australia. The research found that annual gambling losses for 2022-23 amounted to AU$1,527 (US$960) per adult, while total gambling losses stood at AU$31.5bn (US$19.8bn).
The groups noted that the figure is more than what governments spend on aged care (AU$28.3bn) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (AU$35.2bn). They said gambling rose despite a rise in the costs of essential goods and services and a decline in real wages.
