Federal Government considers major reforms in gambling advertising: insights from research
Author Kathy Nickels
Date 9 August 2024
The Australian federal government is due to respond to a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling that recommended phasing out gambling advertising over three years leading to a total ban.
Reports suggest that the government is considering a ban on gambling advertising across social media and other digital platforms, alongside imposing caps on such ads in broadcast media.
Dr César Albarrán-Torres, an Affiliate of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society (ADM+S) from Swinburne University has been studying gambling advertising on social media platforms as part of the Australian Ad Observatory project.
His research highlights significant concerns regarding the prevalence and regulation of these advertisements and the complexities of enforcing a ban on gambling advertising on digital media.
“In order to enact such a ban, the social media platforms need to be willing, and have the mechanisms, to enact it,” said Dr Albarrán-Torres.
“Through the Ad Observatory project we observed that gambling advertisements don’t just come from main players such as Sportsbet but they also come from overseas casinos advertising illegally in Australia.”
After publishing these findings, Dr Albarrán-Torres found that there was little that authorities could do without digital platforms such as Meta having the mechanisms to identify and stop this advertising.
Their research found other types of gambling ads appearing on social media platforms such as giveaways, and rewards clubs that do not legally classify as gambling but have gambling components.
Dr Albarrán-Torres emphasised that this is not just a regulatory challenge but a significant social and political issue.
“It requires coordinated commitment and action from the government, digital platforms, media companies, and the gambling industry to effectively address the problem.”
Dr Albarrán-Torres recently discussed these issues on RTR FM 92.1 with Fiona Bartholomaeus. Listen to the full interview from 29 minutes.
