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A blanket ban on gambling advertising looks increasingly unlikely, as the federal government is considering a partial ban.
An inquiry led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy over a year ago recommended a complete ban on gambling advertising, but the government has since drafted legislation for a partial ban, apparently overturning the recommendation. its own deputies.
The rationale put forward by government MPs, including Bill Shorten, is that a partial ban would help help the media sector which faces a $300 million advertising black hole.
The government has not publicly confirmed its plans and strict non-disclosure agreements have kept those involved in the consultation process silent.
The Multicultural Communities Council of New South Wales says it is concerned about the impact of gaming on culturally and linguistically diverse people.
Mark Franklin, president of the MCC’s New South Wales chapter, says these people may be more prone to developing gambling problems than the general population.
“The effect on some communities is particularly worrying because, if they become deeply involved and addicted to gambling, there is a high level of stigma and shame associated with admitting that they are far too involved and prevents them from ask for help.”
He says the ads send the wrong message.
“The form of the ad shows that advertising is essential to engaging in Australian life and culture, which is certainly a very poor example for new migrants. All we want is for the government to put implement the unanimous decision of the investigation on which all parties have agreed . So the sooner he accepts his own conclusions and acts accordingly, the better.
According to the Responsible Gambling Foundation, gambling advertising and incentives are known to encourage riskier bets, increase the amount of bets, and create enthusiasm that encourages people to bet even when they don’t want to.
Martin Thomas, chief executive of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, also believes the Australian community would be better off without gambling ads.
“We know that Australians lose more than twenty-five billion dollars to gambling every year, and taking that much money away from communities, especially in a cost of living crisis, causes terrible harm. financial difficulties. It leads to health and mental health problems. There is evidence that it increases the risk of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. up to 20 percent of all suicides are believed to be probably related to gambling.”
Meanwhile, the Australia Institute is now proposing a 2 per cent tax to compensate for lost media revenue if gambling advertising is banned.
In 2022-2023, gambling companies’ revenues totaled $17.2 billion and the industry spent approximately $239 million on advertising on free-to-air TV channels, metropolitan radio and online.
Stephen Long, a senior research fellow at the Australia Institute, says a tax on gambling revenue of just 1.4 per cent could replace all these lost advertising revenues.
“Well, there’s a basic principle in economics that one of the reasons you tax things is to discourage things you don’t want. So we impose heavy taxes on tobacco to discourage smoking. Having this levy, but also helping to discourage gambling. But, at least in the short term, it would mean that the networks would not lose revenue for public interest journalism and public interest media. for the media in Australia, it’s good for the public and public health and the only potential losers are the gambling businesses.”
Despite tighter restrictions introduced during live sport in 2018, the total volume of gambling advertising increased by 50 per cent on TV and radio, with $503.7 million spent collectively in marketing since the ban was introduced.
Mr Thomas from the Alliance for Gambling Reforms reiterated that action must be taken immediately to protect Australians.
“So there are a million adverts broadcast every year on television and radio in Australia. We are calling on the government to act on the recommendations of the Murphy report, which is a report written by one of its own MPs who 31 recommendations, and one of them is a complete ban on all gambling advertising, phased in over three years. We think this simply reflects what happened with tobacco advertising years ago. decades and could easily be done and should be done to protect Australians.
