Labor MPs are pressing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to strengthen the government's online gambling advertising crackdown after a parliamentary inquiry heard evidence that betting companies supplied problem gamblers with illicit drugs and access to sex workers, sparking bipartisan outrage and an increasingly difficult Senate passage for the legislation. The Guardian

Anti-gambling campaigners Tim Costello and Luke Bateman told the committee that VIP clients were plied with cocaine, alcohol and sex workers to keep them gambling. Bateman, a former NRL player turned TikTok influencer, described attending a private Gold Coast event hosted for high-value gamblers. The Guardian

Sportsbet and Tabcorp, the two largest online wagering operators in the Australian market, denied the allegations. Sportsbet told the inquiry it had no evidence its VIP managers offered drugs or escorts. Industry representatives fronted the committee to address the claims directly. AFR ABC

The two-day hearing has knocked the government's gambling legislation off course. Labor MP Louise Miller-Frost, who sat on the parliamentary inquiry chaired by the late Peta Murphy that recommended a phased-in full ban on gambling advertising, said the evidence shocked her and that 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 coming from one side of politics. Coalition MPs are urging Opposition Leader Angus Taylor to propose a crackdown on gambling advertising substantially tougher than 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 internally for a crackdown on gambling inducements and suggested online gambling ads on streaming services should be opt-in rather than opt-out — meaning viewers would have to actively switch the ads on, rather than having to switch them off. The Guardian

The Greens have dismissed the legislation as ineffective, meaning the government faces hostility from the crossbench (the independent and minor party senators whose votes are often needed to pass laws), its own backbench and the Coalition simultaneously. The bill's path through the Senate was already difficult; the inquiry evidence has made it harder. The Guardian

The government's plan centres on limiting online gambling advertising and bolstering the existing self-exclusion register — a voluntary system that lets problem gamblers ban themselves from wagering platforms. It falls well short of the Murphy committee's recommendation for a phased full ban, a gap that Labor MPs like Miller-Frost and Payne are now publicly flagging. The inquiry evidence has given that gap a visceral edge. Allegations of cocaine and escorts are not the usual currency of social policy debate, and they have crystallised the argument that the industry's self-regulation model is broken. The Guardian

The parliamentary committee process has form here. The House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs has been examining online gambling harm for years. Its earlier work saw Tabcorp claim that online wagering providers must comply with federally applied rules but not state-based rules, and the committee asked Sportsbet to provide evidence backing its assertion that mandatory deposit limits would have negative consequences. APH APH

The broader context here is a government caught between an industry that wields serious lobbying muscle and a parliamentary coalition, genuinely bipartisan in its disgust, that has heard evidence too lurid to ignore. Albanese now has Labor MPs citing a dead colleague's report against his own legislation. The Coalition is not defending the industry; it is competing to outflank the government from the moral high ground. The Greens, as ever, are to the left of everyone. When the crossbench, the opposition and your own backbench all want the same thing and you are the obstacle, the political calculus is straightforward. The question is whether Albanese reads it that way, or whether he holds the line and dares the Senate to vote down a reform that, however inadequate, still represents progress. The Guardian