{"id":859461,"date":"2026-08-18T09:34:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859461\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T09:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:34:17","slug":"david-pocock-condemns-labor-coalition-deal-on-gambling-bill-as-betrayal-of-all-australians-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859461\/","title":{"rendered":"David Pocock condemns Labor-Coalition deal on gambling bill as \u2018betrayal of all Australians\u2019 | Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Coalition<\/a> MPs have crossed the floor after a deal between the major parties to pass Labor\u2019s new restrictions on betting advertising and inducements, with crossbenchers and the Greens expressing anger and dismay at the contentious bill\u2019s final form.<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese and the communications minister, Anika Wells, secured the support of the opposition to pass the bill, with amendments including tweaks to ad timing rules and some restrictions on inducements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wells called the package \u201cthe most significant reforms to online gambling in Australia\u2019s history\u201d. Albanese, in a speech to parliament, thanked the Coalition for its support and called the reforms \u201ca result that will work\u201d.<\/p>\n

The independent senator David Pocock<\/a> condemned the deal, calling it a \u201cbetrayal of all Australians\u201d on ABC\u2019s Afternoon Briefing. He said he would be voting against the bills in the Senate and derided the amendments as \u201ctinkering\u201d that didn\u2019t go nearly far enough.<\/p>\n

The reforms are set pass on Thursday, 1,149 days after the late Labor MP Peta Murphy handed down her landmark report on gambling harms, which recommended a total ban on inducements and wagering ads.<\/p>\n

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Labor\u2019s final version of the bill, with amendments agreed by the Coalition, will not meet either of those recommendations. Instead, the communications regulator will set up a one-stop \u201copt-out register\u201d<\/a> \u2013 the details and design of which is yet to be made clear \u2013 to allow Australians to elect against receiving gambling ads, while inducements will only be limited in some circumstances.<\/p>\n

The register could take up to 12 months to be set up, government sources said, conceding the system would be complex and unlikely to be ready by 1 January 2027. Albanese referred to the system as \u201cAdStop\u201d in parliament, likening it to the self-exclusion register BetStop, but it\u2019s understood this will not be its official name.<\/p>\n

Gambling industry sources questioned how the opt-out register would operate, how long it would take to set up, as well as privacy issues around handling of user data. Wagering companies \u2013 who will be obliged to pay for the register \u2013 also questioned how much it would cost.<\/p>\n

The shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, said the register idea had come from the Coalition.<\/p>\n

She said the Coalition envisioned that \u201canyone seeking to serve gambling ads online will be required to sweep that register to make sure that if someone opts out on the register, that all publishers of gambling ads will comply with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wells said all inducement ads would be banned for any customer \u201cidentified as at risk of gambling-related harm\u201d, for 14 days after someone had signed up with a wagering service, and for three months after someone had deregistered from Betstop.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s amendments would also ban commissions on customer losses for gambling staff or affiliates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have listened to the range of views across the community and the parliament, which showed us the most toxic version of inducements \u2013 and we are taking action to address this,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n

Kai Cantwell, CEO of the peak body Responsible Wagering Australia, described the changes as \u201cunnecessary\u201d and \u201ccomplex\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you push people away from the licensed, regulated market \u2013 by banning or limiting the promotions that let local operators compete, or by making Australian odds less competitive with new taxes and levies \u2013 you don\u2019t stop them punting,\u201d Cantwell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou push them offshore, into products with no consumer protections, no support, no Betstop, and no contribution to Australian sport and racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other tweaks to the original bill<\/a> include extending the \u201cblackout period\u201d on ads before live sport from five minutes to 15 minutes, the three-per-hour restriction on TV ads beginning at 5am instead of 6am, and restrictions on advertising during children\u2019s programming.<\/p>\n

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The changes will be monitored by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and subject to a statutory review after three years.<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s changes include previously announced reforms like banning gambling ads on player jerseys and in stadiums, banning celebrities and players from promoting gambling, and a \u201ctriple lock\u201d system for online ads requiring users to be over 18, logged in and provided with an opt-out option.<\/p>\n

The Liberal backbencher Andrew Wallace joined colleague Pat Conaghan to cross the floor and vote against some of the amendments, which he claimed were inadequate.<\/p>\n

Wallace said the parliament should have extended advertising blackout periods, and an opt-in approach for inducements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese reforms don\u2019t go anywhere near enough to correcting those bad elements. We\u2019re putting too much faith in the hands of the gambling companies. And quite frankly, they have not demonstrated that they deserve that faith,\u201d he told ABC TV.<\/p>\n

Conaghan, who was deputy chair of the Murphy-led review in 2023, said earlier: \u201cI think we\u2019re being weak by not implementing those reports and I think we\u2019d be supported by the majority of the public out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia understands at least two more Liberal senators \u2013 moderates Andrew McLachlan and Paul Scarr \u2013 may cross the floor when the bill reaches the upper house tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Independent Zali Steggall complained during debate that crossbenchers had not been given any time to consider amendments.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor 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,\u201d she said in a statement with colleague Allegra Spender.<\/p>\n

The Greens called the Labor-Coalition agreement \u201ccowardly and careless\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kate Seselja, co-chair of the group Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts, said in a statement that the government should instead follow the recommendations of Murphy\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to effectively block gambling ads is to ban them in Australia. This proposal is completely unworkable,\u201d Seselja said of the universal \u201copt-out\u201d register.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Coalition MPs have crossed the floor after a deal between the major parties to pass Labor\u2019s new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-859461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}