This week, our elected officials finished up their breaks and descended on Canberra to resume parliamentary business for the year.

Top of the agenda? Gambling.

It’s the coming together of years of inquiries, reports and recommendations to minimise the harms of gambling in Australia. In today’s newsletter, we’ll trace the history of the current proposal being put forward by the Government, and what could happen next.

Let’s get into it.

Before we go into the political responses, it’s important to paint a clear picture of the state of gambling in Australia today.

Let’s start with this: Australia records the highest gambling losses per capita in the world. That means Aussies lose more money gambling, per adult, than people in any other country in the world. On an economic level, national gambling losses were forecast at roughly $36 billion last year, which works out to be more than a thousand dollars a year for every adult in the country. We know from the latest national survey that nearly two in three Australian adults gambled at least once in 2024. The prevalence of ‘problem’ gambling has grown exponentially, with the level of severity much higher among men than women.

So it is against that backdrop that successive governments have attempted to find strategies to mitigate the harms of problem gambling, and the raft of issues associated with it.

The current attempt by the Albanese government dates back to 2023, when a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and its impact on those experiencing gambling harm handed down its final report. The inquiry was chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, and made 31 recommendations.

You can read about the scope of the findings here, but the headline of the report was the recommendation that the Government should implement a total ban on all gambling advertising. The recommendation was anchored in research that found 70% of Australians believe gambling advertisements on television should be banned (since the report was published, that number has grown by roughly 10%).

The Murphy report recommended this “comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising for online gambling” be introduced in four phases, over three years. Importantly, it suggested the ban “commence immediately”.

That recommendation was published three years ago. Spoiler alert: nothing “commenced immediately”.

When a committee hands down an inquiry report, there is no requirement for the government of the day to adopt or accept the recommendations it makes. The fact that this specific inquiry was chaired by a Labor MP was important, however, as it was a government member making recommendations to her own party. On December 4 2023, Murphy passed at the age of 50 following a battle with breast cancer.

Nearly three years later, on Budget Day this year, the Albanese government made public its response to the Murphy report. It noted all 31 recommendations made by the inquiry, and deferred some legislative responsibility to state and territory governments.

Around the same time, the Government also announced its gambling reform agenda to reduce online gambling harms in Australia. The proposal includes:

A piece of legislation being sent to a committee for review is very common, and adds a layer of scrutiny to meatier proposed law changes.

In this case, the Senate committee held public hearings last week into the legislation, with a range of views shared. One of those perspectives was from Luke Bateman, a former NRL player who says he was a problem gambler. In his now-viral testimony, Bateman alleged gambling companies unofficially offered him illicit drugs while courting him as a high-volume punter, an addiction that cost him tens of thousands of dollars a month.

Both TAB and Sportsbet denied these allegations. Bateman has also since confirmed he worked as a “business development manager” for betting company Southern Cross Bet for six months in 2020.

The inquiry also heard from Reverend Tim Costello, the chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, who relayed the case of a man given free accommodation at a casino, $50,000 in bonus bets, flights to grand finals, and offers of escorts and drugs.

The Senate committee is due to hand down its report by 17 August.

In the meantime, the Government is trying to shore up support to pass the bill through Parliament. Reminder: the Albanese government doesn’t have the numbers in the Senate to pass through legislation without support from outside the party.

In terms of where things might land, the Greens have been explicit in saying they will vote against the legislation unless inducements are “off the table”. Inducements are defined by the Murphy report as “advertising and direct messaging [including] offers such as deposit matches, multi-bets, bonus bets, rewards programs and early cash-outs”.

Independents have been similarly critical of the bill, with Senator David Pocock labelling the Government’s approach as a “tragedy”.

As for the Coalition, there has been no public position taken (yet). We know Labor and the Coalition are in negotiations at the moment. One Liberal MP, Simon Kennedy, was ejected from Question Time earlier this year after he accused the Prime Minister of having a “gambling problem”. He has remained a vocal advocate for more significant gambling reforms within the party.

As this bill progresses, we’ll be sure to keep you updated on it. Until that time, hit reply with any question you might have!

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