Labor MPs are pressuring Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to get tougher on online gambling advertising after a parliamentary inquiry heard that betting companies gave problem gamblers illegal drugs and access to sex workers to keep them betting. The claims have angered politicians on all sides and made it harder for the government's gambling laws to get through the Senate. The Guardian

Anti-gambling campaigners Tim Costello and Luke Bateman told the inquiry that VIP clients — the biggest-spending gamblers — were given cocaine, alcohol and sex workers to keep them gambling. Bateman, a former NRL player turned TikTok influencer, said he attended a private Gold Coast event run for high-value gamblers. The Guardian

Sportsbet and Tabcorp, the two biggest online betting companies in Australia, denied the allegations. Sportsbet told the inquiry it had no evidence its VIP managers offered drugs or escorts. Industry representatives appeared before the committee to respond to the claims directly. AFR ABC

The two-day hearing has thrown the government's gambling legislation off course. Labor MP Louise Miller-Frost, who served on a parliamentary inquiry chaired by the late Peta Murphy that recommended gradually banning all gambling advertising, said the evidence shocked her and she would push for tougher action. Her colleague Alicia Payne called the legislation "a significant step in the right direction" but added she "hoped and believed the government would go further." The Guardian

The pressure is not just coming from Labor's side. Coalition MPs are urging Opposition Leader Angus Taylor to propose a crackdown on gambling advertising that goes well beyond the government's plan. Liberal MP Simon Kennedy said the inquiry had "embarrassed" the government and that "something had gone badly wrong in the design of the gambling legislation." Kennedy has pushed for a crackdown on gambling inducements and suggested ads for online gambling on streaming services should be opt-in, meaning viewers would have to actively choose to see them rather than having to switch them off. The Guardian

The Greens have dismissed the legislation as ineffective. That means the government is facing pressure from the crossbench (independent and minor party senators whose votes are often needed to pass laws), its own backbenchers and the Coalition all at once. The bill's path through the Senate was already difficult; the inquiry evidence has made it harder. The Guardian

The government's plan focuses on limiting online gambling advertising and strengthening the existing self-exclusion register, a voluntary system that lets problem gamblers ban themselves from betting platforms. But it falls well short of what the Murphy committee recommended: a gradual full ban on gambling advertising. Labor MPs like Miller-Frost and Payne are now publicly pointing out that gap. The inquiry evidence has given that gap a visceral edge. Allegations of cocaine and escorts are not the usual stuff of social policy debate, and they have sharpened the argument that the industry's system of policing itself is broken. The Guardian

The parliamentary committee has been here before. The House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs has been looking into online gambling harm for years. In earlier work, Tabcorp argued that online betting companies must follow federal rules but not state-based rules, and the committee asked Sportsbet to provide evidence for its claim that mandatory deposit limits would have negative consequences. APH APH

The broader context here is a government stuck between a powerful gambling industry and a parliament that, across party lines, has heard evidence too shocking to ignore. Albanese now has his own MPs citing a report by a dead colleague to argue his legislation does not go far enough. The Coalition is not defending the industry; it is trying to outdo the government on the moral high ground. The Greens, as ever, are further left than everyone else. When the independents, the opposition and your own backbench all want the same thing and you are the one standing in the way, the politics are simple. The question is whether Albanese sees it that way, or whether he holds firm and dares the Senate to vote down a reform that, however imperfect, would still be a step forward. The Guardian