Parliament is on track to pass a revised set of restrictions on gambling advertising and inducements on Thursday, after Labor secured Coalition backing for amended legislation that two Liberal backbenchers say does not go far enough. The agreement between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government and the opposition comes 1,149 days after the late Labor MP Peta Murphy delivered her influential report into gambling harm, which had called for an outright ban on both wagering advertisements and inducements.
Communications Minister Anika Wells worked with the Coalition to finalise a package that falls short of Murphy's original recommendations. Rather than a blanket ban, the government has opted for a still-undefined opt-out mechanism that would let Australians choose not to receive gambling promotions, alongside targeted limits on inducements rather than a full prohibition.
What changes were agreed to on Tuesday?
Wells confirmed that inducement advertising would be banned outright for customers flagged as being at risk of gambling-related harm, and temporarily suspended for new and departing customers. Under the revised rules, inducements could not be offered for 14 days after a person signs up with a wagering operator, or for three months after someone removes themselves from the Betstop self-exclusion scheme.
The amendments also close off a lucrative practice by banning commissions paid to gambling staff or affiliates based on customer losses. Wells framed the changes as a direct response to public and parliamentary concern.
"We have listened to the range of views across the community and the Parliament, which showed us the most toxic version of inducements – and we are taking action to address this," Wells said.
Further tightening includes stretching the advertising blackout window ahead of live sport from five minutes to 15 minutes, moving the start of the three-ads-per-hour television cap forward from 6am to 5am, and imposing new limits on advertising during children's programming. These sit alongside previously flagged measures such as banning gambling advertising on players' uniforms and inside stadiums, prohibiting celebrities and athletes from promoting betting products, and introducing a "triple lock" for online advertising that would require users to be logged in, verified as over 18, and not to have opted out before being shown a gambling ad.
How will the opt-out register actually work?
According to a national broadcaster's report, Labor and the Coalition have reached a preliminary understanding that a single wagering-advertising opt-out register would be created, with the Australian Communications and Media Authority expected to run it. A separate report from a national masthead describes the register as a proposed "one-stop shop" that would let adults switch off wagering advertisements across online content platforms in a single step, and notes that the government's latest amendments would introduce a levy on gambling companies to help fund it.
Despite that broad in-principle agreement, industry figures cited in the original debate raised doubts about whether the system would be ready in time, and about how personal data used to verify opt-outs would be protected. Kate Seselja, co-chair of the Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts, argued the opt-out model was the wrong approach entirely.
"The only way to effectively block gambling ads is to ban them in Australia. This proposal is completely unworkable," Seselja said.
Why did some MPs cross the floor?
Liberal backbenchers Andrew Wallace and Pat Conaghan broke from their party to vote against elements of the amended bill, arguing the protections remained inadequate. Wallace said Parliament should have gone further by extending advertising blackout periods and by making inducements opt-in rather than opt-out.
"These reforms don't go anywhere near enough to correcting those bad elements. We're putting too much faith in the hands of the gambling companies. And quite frankly, they have not demonstrated that they deserve that faith," Wallace told a television interviewer.
Conaghan, who served as deputy chair of the 2023 parliamentary inquiry led by Murphy, said he believed the government was falling short of what the public wanted.
"I think we're being weak by not implementing those reports and I think we'd be supported by the majority of the public out there," he said.
It is understood at least two moderate Liberal senators, Andrew McLachlan and Paul Scarr, may also cross the floor when the legislation reaches the Senate. Independent MP Zali Steggall criticised the process itself, saying crossbench members were given almost no time to scrutinise the negotiated changes before being asked to vote.
"Labor and the Coalition stitched up a deal on gambling laws then gave crossbench MPs just minutes to consider significant amendments before being expected to vote on them," Steggall said in a joint statement with fellow independent Allegra Spender.
The Greens described the Labor-Coalition arrangement as "cowardly and careless", while independent senator David Pocock also said the reforms did not go far enough.
What is the background to this legislation?
The push for tighter gambling advertising rules traces back to the landmark 2023 parliamentary inquiry chaired by Peta Murphy, which recommended a complete ban on both gambling advertisements and inducements. The government's broader reform package, developed in the years since, has also included measures banning gambling promotions from sports venues and playing uniforms, along with restrictions on television, radio and online advertising more generally.
What happens next?
Government documentation indicates the full suite of gambling reforms is scheduled to take effect from 1 January 2027, according to a federal government FAQ document. Before that date, officials will need to design and build the opt-out register itself, with unresolved questions remaining about how the system will function in practice, according to a national masthead's reporting. The bill is expected to move to the Senate on Wednesday, where further crossings of the floor are possible.
Key Facts
- The bill is due to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday, 1,149 days after Peta Murphy's gambling harm report.
- Inducement ads will be banned for at-risk customers, for 14 days after sign-up, and for three months after Betstop deregistration.
- The live-sport advertising blackout period will extend from five to 15 minutes, and the three-ads-per-hour TV cap will begin at 5am instead of 6am.
- A single opt-out register, likely run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and funded by a levy on gambling firms, is planned but not yet designed.
- Liberal MPs Andrew Wallace and Pat Conaghan crossed the floor, and senators Andrew McLachlan and Paul Scarr may do so when the bill reaches the Senate.
