By Paul Sakkal
Former prime minister John Howard has joined dozens of prominent Australians to call for a blanket ban on gambling advertising, urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “show leadership” in outlawing it as tobacco promotion was in the 1970s.
“It’s just everywhere. I mean, I follow a lot of sport: I watch rugby league, I watch cricket, I watch the Olympics, I watch it all, and it’s just everywhere. It’s too much,” Howard said in an interview.
Former prime minister John Howard wants gambling ads banned.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“The spread of gambling and the social harm from it is a serious issue for our country.”
The call injects conservative weight into a campaign that has been led mostly by figures on the left of the political spectrum, including late Labor MP Peta Murphy, whose influential 2023 report called for a ban on all gambling ads within three years.
This masthead revealed last week that Labor planned to ban betting ads on social media and other digital platforms and cap ads on TV and radio.
The plan has infuriated crossbench MPs and anti-gambling advocates, who have urged Albanese in an open letter to follow the advice of the parliamentary committee chaired by Murphy in full.
Howard praised Murphy’s “very good” recommendations and argued Albanese needed to step up in the same way as Malcolm Fraser in 1976, when tobacco ads were taken off air, and former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet in his efforts to clamp down on poker machines.
“It’s particularly bad for young people who are so easily tempted,” Howard said.
“We hear a lot of talk from the prime minister of that leadership, but he’s got an opportunity to show leadership on this issue.”
Howard, Perrottet, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett were among those who signed the open letter backing Murphy’s call for gambling ads across television, radio, newspapers and online to be phased out by June 2026.
Other signatories include domestic violence campaigner and former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, former AFL player Easton Wood, lawyer and priest Frank Brennan, and former Victorian Labor premier Steve Bracks.
The stance of Howard, Perrottet, Turnbull and Kennett is more aggressive than that taken so far by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on the issue of betting promotions, whose prevalence, particularly around sporting matches, has provoked community concern.
Dutton gazumped Labor last year by pledging to block ads from an hour before until an hour after live sports broadcasts.
But asked about Labor’s plans revealed by this masthead, Dutton said earlier this week: “I hope that [Albanese] had the conversations with those companies [affected] to understand what happens … for businesses that employ a lot of people around the country.”
Anti-gambling figures want Labor to go further than its leaked plans suggest and implement a blanket ban. But the government is wary of a backlash from the AFL and NRL and major media companies – including Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead – whose business models have become reliant on betting ad revenue.
Big bookmakers are largely resigned to the proposed two-per-hour cap on TV ads. But they were pushing back on the mooted digital/social media ban, sources said, and were instead asking for a “three-lock” approach that would only allow ads on platforms that do not target children, let people opt out of seeing gambling ads, and limit ad frequency.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland will present her planned changes to cabinet imminently.
Currently, gambling ads during live sports are banned from five minutes before play until five minutes after, between 5am and 8.30pm. After 8.30pm, the ads can appear before and after play and during breaks in play.
More than 1 million gambling ads aired on free-to-air TV, radio and online in the 12 months to April 2023, at a cost of $238 million, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Gambling sources said the volume of ads had reduced in the past year as betting firms adjusted their behaviour in anticipation of a crackdown.
Blocking ads online but allowing them on broadcast television would cut off cash flow for foreign-owned social media firms but maintain tens of millions of dollars in revenue for locally owned TV and sports businesses.
The open letter was organised by social justice campaigner the Reverend Tim Costello and the Alliance for Gambling Reform, for which he is chief advocate.
Its chief executive, Martin Thomas, said: “A total ban on all gambling advertising is essential to stop gambling companies targeting our children. Any decision to simply cap advertising, or limit a blanket ban to only social media, would be a win for vested interests and leave Australians exposed to significant harm.”
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clarification
An earlier version of this story referred to Tim Costello as chair of the Alliance for Gambling Reform.