In what is seen by many as a move to offset the blanket ban that the Australian Government is looking to impose on gambling-related advertisements, industry players are steadily pushing for the use of technology to detect and block minors from accessing sports betting content.
Stakeholders on either side of the gambling fence that the Australian Government seems to be currently perched on – it is apparently still mulling over what the best approach to initiating gambling reform could be – can only wait and watch as to how events would unfold. And in the meantime, do their best to push their individual points of view forward. This comes not long after Australia released the annual gambling losses for 2022-23.
A while earlier, the Australian federal government had announced that it was looking into the possibility of using age verification technology as a definitive way of restricting minors from accessing social media.
This approach seems to have kindled some interest in gambling industry insiders, who are talking of using facial recognition technology – together with other measures like limiting the frequency of displaying gambling advertisements – to regulate access to betting and gambling content.
There are strong concerns from among the anti-gambling lobby that the government, by procrastinating on its final approach towards gambling-related legislation, may miss a golden opportunity to overhaul the gambling segment and hold them accountable.
The chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tim Costello, in fact said that the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may lose a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity to totally regulate the gambling establishment.
The AGR and its allies are in fact pushing for strict controls to regulate gambling and minimize the possibility of gambling harm among minors and other vulnerable players. Their contention is simple – whatever the government has proposed so far – from looking to limit gambling ads to banning gambling advertisement during children’s programming on television or radio as well as during live broadcasts of sporting events – is just not enough when you look at the massive scale of the problem.
The Australian government hasn’t been able to finalize its stance on the way to address the gambling problem. In fact, it is yet to respond completely to the 31 recommendations laid out by the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs – the You Win Some You Lose More report – that was tabled more than a year ago on 28th June, 2023, by Peta Murphy.
Not all the recommendations of the You Win Some You Lose More report may be implemented. One that the prime Minster himself has indicated will most likely not be seeing the light of day in the form of gambling legislation is the recommendation for a total ban on gambling advertisements online. In an interview earlier with ABC Radio he had questioned the effectiveness of a full ban on gambling ads.
In that interview Prime Minister Albanese talked of working to address loopholes and flaws in other currently existing gambling reform schemes, such as BetStop, a self-exclusion initiative launched by the Australian government that has been roundly criticized for allowing players to continue betting even after they register with the scheme for self-exclusion.
Even has Prime Minister Albanese talks of the need to look at a ‘range of option’, Tim Costello of AGR is adamant that the government take a strong stance on implementing gambling legislation. Speaking of how earlier governments had picked up thorny issues and successfully brought them under the legislative umbrella, he felt that the current government wouldn’t be able to take decisive action.
He said, “John Howard did gun reform, Kevin Rudd did smoking ads. Albo’s government set up the Murphy report, people want a ban, we don’t want kids groomed – but Albo’s going to squib it.”
Costello had earlier asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister after he disagreed publicly with the Prime Minister and said he was merely repeating the main talking points that the industry had chalked out. He is yet to receive a response to his request from the PM’s office.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said that the government was taking all the recommendations of the You Win Some You Lose More report into consideration before formulating its policy on gambling ads.
“The government is closely considering all 31 recommendations from the final report of the online gambling inquiry and will release a comprehensive response in due course,” she said.
Despite all these pronouncements, one thing is apparent: the government is taking its time before formulating policy of any kind. The delay from could be due to many reasons; some in fact speculate that it could because all the major sports finals, including the NRL and the AFL, are not over yet. And these events involve legal betting in mammoth numbers.
Whatever the reasons may be, until something materializes it will be a long and frustrating wait for all other stakeholders in this drama.
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