House debates

Monday, 20 March 2023

Statements by Members

Sports Gambling

4:32 pm

Photo of Peter KhalilPeter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Well, the 2023 AFL season has got off to a cracking start, particularly given that the Magpies have defeated the reigning premiers, Geelong, thumping them at the MCG on Friday night. I'll remind the Deputy Prime Minister of that a little bit later, him being the avid Geelong supporter that he is! But right now I want to speak about an issue that many people in my community care about, and that is the oversaturation of gambling advertising during these sporting events. As a lot of people huddled around the TV or attended stadiums last week, they were smashed with gambling ads all the way through.

Sports embedded gambling ads normalise gambling, especially among young people. Australia's gambling habit puts us at the top of a global list that we don't want to be on. Our losses per capita are amongst the highest in the world. For online gambling alone, Australians spent about $7 billion in 2021. And online gambling has made gambling more convenient and easier to hide. It's been spurred along by the never-ending barrage of gambling ads. In Victoria there were 948 gambling ads on daily free-to-air TV in 2021. That equates to one every 91 seconds, according to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. I'm particularly concerned about the impact of this advertising on young people, many of whom can tell you the technical aspects of gambling. And I'm concerned for marginalised groups who experience inequality in gambling related harms.

So I'm pleased that the Albanese government is introducing reforms that include nationally consistent messages around the potential harms of online gambling, messages that send a clearer, stronger message about the impacts of gambling and the need for us to curb and reform it.