Gambling ads in Australia: reports suggest partial ban on the way

Reports suggest there will be a total ban on digital ads and a ban on TV ads for one hour on either side of sports broadcasts.

Australia.- The government of prime minister Anthony Albanese is reportedly planning to implement a total ban on digital gambling ads and a prohibition on TV ads for one hour before and after sports broadcasts. According to Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell, the measures would be introduced next year.

Other measures would see sports pundits prohibited from discussing betting odds during sports broadcasts, a maximum of two gambling ads per hour and a blackout during children’s programming.

The government has yet to make any official announcement of the measures.

In a recent interview with ABC Radio, Albanese said a total ban would not be the “bold” move some claim. He said: “The problem isn’t advertising, the problem is gambling. “The easy option is just to (ban ads) and not worry about the consequences for sporting codes, junior sport, the media,” he added.

Communications minister Michelle Rowland declined to confirm the reports when speaking with Sky News’s Sunday Agenda. She said that the government was “looking at a range of issues” but had not yet made any decisions.

Rowland said the government has three main objectives: to protect children, to break the link between wagering and sport, and to tackle the saturation of ads that she says mainly impacts young men aged around 18 to 35. “We want people to be enthusiastic about the game, not the odds,” she stressed.

Rowland did confirm that the racing industry would be exempt, stating that the government considers racing as a distinct category. “Horses and dogs in that context exist for betting, so we understand that,” she said.

See also: Video games in Australia: new classifications for gambling-like content