Labor is thinking about pulling its gambling advertising crackdown entirely rather than accept changes the Senate wants to make to the bill. The Coalition, the Greens and the independents in the Senate all want a tough new ban on inducements — the free bets, sign-up bonuses and rewards that betting companies use to lure people in and keep them gambling. The betting industry says it will not accept further restrictions.

Communications minister Anika Wells says she is prepared to negotiate, but the Prime Minister's office is signalling a harder line. Anthony Albanese could insist the bill be passed as-is or withdrawn altogether. That raises the prospect that months of work on the government's signature gambling harm package produces nothing at all (The Guardian; ABC News).

Things got more serious this week when a parliamentary inquiry heard some extraordinary claims. Former NRL player Luke Bateman and anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello gave evidence that gambling company VIP managers supplied problem gamblers with cocaine, alcohol and sex workers to keep them betting. The betting companies who appeared at the same inquiry said there was no evidence to support those claims (The Guardian).

These allegations come on top of pressure that has been building since the late MP Peta Murphy delivered a major report in June 2023. Her committee recommended the government ban all online gambling inducements and inducement advertising without delay. People who think Labor's current bill does not go far enough point to that report as the standard the government should be meeting (The Guardian).

Labor's bill would change the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. It would limit gambling ads on TV to three per hour between 6am and 8:30pm, restrict radio ads during school pick-up and drop-off times, and ban gambling logos. In April, the government also announced it would ban gambling ads featuring celebrities and limit online gambling ads to users over 18 (ABC News; Reuters).

That is not enough for the Senate. The Greens say Labor's bill is actually weaker than current laws and note it is currently not illegal to expose children to gambling ads in Australia (ABC News). The Greens introduced their own gambling bill in February 2025, which would ban all forms of online gambling advertising across TV, radio and the internet (Senate Hansard). Amendments circulating in the Senate include a full ban on gambling ads across all platforms within three years and a ban on inducements (ABC News).

Acting opposition leader Jane Hume said shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson is negotiating for new controls over inducements, arguing gambling companies use them to keep people hooked on betting. Labor backbencher Jerome Laxale challenged the opposition to bring forward constructive amendments and said he welcomed the draft laws being strengthened in the Senate (The Guardian). Pauline Hanson said she "doesn't care" if businesses are impacted by gambling advertising restrictions (ABC News).

The betting industry is not budging. Kai Cantwell, who runs lobby group Responsible Wagering Australia, said further bans on inducements were a "non-starter" (The Guardian). Wells has described the bill's two main goals as phasing out advertising and stopping inducements, calling them the keystone of addressing gambling harms (Minister Wells doorstop).

Wells is waiting on amendments from the Coalition, which should be finalised in party room meetings next week. Last month, Labor's national conference agreed to explore how to stop online gaming and social media platforms from offering embedded inducements — the in-app rewards and prompts designed to normalise gambling among children and young people (The Guardian).

A Parliamentary Library policy brief from February 2026 describes the next phase of gambling advertising reform as a ban on all online gambling advertising and commentary on betting odds during sports broadcasts and for an hour on either side (Parliamentary Library). Labor Senators' additional comments on a related bill described an approach that would restrict gambling promotions during live sports coverage regardless of which platform they appear on (Senate committee report).

The broader context here is a government stuck between a betting industry that refuses further regulation and a Senate that thinks the government's own proposals do not go far enough. If Albanese insists on all or nothing, the question is whether the Coalition and Greens call that bluff or fold their demands into something Wells can accept. The Peta Murphy report hangs over the whole debate like a ghost. It recommended banning inducements without delay. The government is still negotiating whether to ban them at all.