Sustainability of Australia’s commercial networks would be threatened by a ban on gambling advertising, their peak body says.
The proposed ban – which could cost them $150 million a year – has been recommended following a parliamentary inquiry into the harm caused by of online gambling.
Among 31 recommendations is a call for a three-year phase-out of all advertising by online gambling operators, applying to TV, radio, online and news media. The inquiry heard gambling operators spent more than $300 million on advertising in 2022, half of it on TV.
Free TV Australia responded with a warning that the ban would undermine the sustainability of commercial TV services. Chief executive Bridget Fair said the loss of revenue in the current economic and competitive environment would inevitably see less funding for Australian content.
“While we appreciate that there are concerns in the community regarding the volume of gambling ads, kneejerk moves to implement outright bans will ultimately hurt viewers and the television services they love,” she warned.
“These services are available to every Australian no matter where they live or how much they earn, and they are only possible because of advertising revenue.”
Free TV says measures such as frequency caps would be “a better and more targeted approach to respond to any community concern around the volume of advertising.
“This would build on the current restrictions on gambling advertising, including the existing ban on gambling advertising in live sport before 8.30pm and strict limits in sport after that time.”
Tim Costello, chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, called for bipartisan support for the recommendations, and said research it had commissioned found Australia has one of the weakest regulatory regimes, with Australians spending the most in the world, per capita, on legal forms of gambling, losing $25 billion every year.
Research also shows Australians also lose the most money to online gambling in the world – about $7 billion annually.