Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, I present the committee's report entitled You win some, you lose more: online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—'You win some, you lose more,' the government's tagline on gambling advertising, adopted recently as part of the National Consumer Protection Framework, aptly sums up the evidence received during the inquiry of this committee of which I'm very proud to be the chair.

The evidence was clear. If the status quo on online gambling regulation, including but certainly not limited to advertising, is to continue, Australians will continue to lose more—more money, more relationships, more love of sport for the game rather than for the odds. It is clear from the 31 bipartisan recommendations contained in this report that the committee's view is that we cannot accept that. What we heard from submitters, ranging from people with lived experience to researchers, academics and even people in the industry, is that tinkering around the edges isn't going to cut it either.

This inquiry considered whether the current regulatory framework for online gaming and gambling advertising in Australia is fit for purpose and meeting community expectations. We received powerful evidence from people with lived experience, peak bodies, community organisations and concerned individuals about the harm that online gambling is causing to everyday Australians, to the people that they love and to their communities.

We like to be the best in the world in Australia. Australians outspend the citizens of every other country on online gambling. In many of our communities and in many of our families, it is wreaking havoc. We heard over and over again, as members of this committee and as members of this chamber, that families believe saturation advertising is ensuring their children's future losses. It is absolutely unarguable that there are three organisations at the moment which are gaining from the status quo: online wagering service providers, the advertising revenue for media and—there is some argument about whether this is a gain or not—the money that major sporting organisations receive not just from sponsorship but also from product use agreements with online gambling providers.

Our inquiry heard from gamblers who not only lost more than they could afford but who were encouraged by wagering service providers to gamble more, even after they incurred serious losses. We also heard from those who won and were prevented from gambling further. Any business model which encourages harm deserves to be closely scrutinised and that's what this inquiry did. The evidence is overwhelming that Australians don't like being flooded by messages and inducements to gamble online and they worry about the effect this is having on children and young people. Most believe that gambling is harmful for society and that it has become too easy to gamble in Australia. Almost half of Australians surveyed last year placed a bet on sports or racing and about two-thirds of those people are at risk of harm. It's not about safe gambling; it's about the risk and the reality of harm.

Online gambling is of course a form of entertainment, and many people can talk about how they indulge in it without experiencing harm or causing harm to others. But it is different to other forms of entertainment because, as we heard from the experts, it has the potential to cause psychological, health, relationship, legal and financial harm to both the individuals engaging in it and those around them. We heard, tragically, about gambling being a key risk factor for suicide. We heard from experts who talked about gambling progressing to a behavioural addiction of gambling disorder which has the same effect on the brain as addiction to substances and some of the same treatments.

The recommendations show that it's the view of the committee that there aren't enough safeguards to protect people from gambling disorder from online gambling harm and that too many people find it difficult to ask for help because the stigma associated with harm from gambling is silencing. Those who do seek help, find it difficult to access appropriate treatment and support.

Australia's fragmented regulatory framework, in many places, is too weak. What it does at the moment—and the approach across jurisdictions, but the Commonwealth, which we were looking at, does at the moment—is place the onus for reducing harm on the person who gambles. Despite gambling harm being a major public health issue we don't treat it like one. And by 'public health issue' we don't necessarily mean something that has to be dealt with by a department of health, but a 'public health issue' is something that causes health consequences and something that we should be looking at in terms of prevention, early intervention and treatment.

Our policies and regulation at the moment encourage responsible gambling. That was one of the things that the taglines I started off with has moved away from. Responsible gambling focus absolves online wagering service providers of much of the responsibility for the harm their products cause.

This inquiry heard about inconsistency across states and territories on how online gambling is regulated, and little incentive being placed on states and territories to impose tougher regulations or licensing fees.

The Northern Territory Racing Commissioner is in many ways Australia's de facto online gambling regulator.

I'm proud to say that this committee delivered a unanimous report. Labor, National, Liberal and Independent members of the parliament came together and delivered a unanimous report without any additional comments. Thirty-one recommendations apply that new lens—often called a 'public health lens'—to online gambling where we say, 'How can we not blame the individual but work to make sure these harms don't happen?' We have recommended: a single Australian government minister be responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive national strategy—which must be done with states and territories—on online-gambling harm reduction, supported by national regulation; an online-gambling ombudsman; a harm-reduction levy on online wagering service providers; a public education campaign; more independent research; and improved data collection. We've recommended a crackdown on illegal gambling operators, including online casinos and skins, and e-sports betting websites. We've recommended a range of measures to improve the availability and adequacy of the support and treatment available to those experiencing gambling harm, and to reduce stigma.

We have recommended that the states and territories work with the Australian government so the Australian government could be responsible for regulation and licensing of online gambling while states and territories could retain the capacity to levy point-of-consumption taxes. We've recommended stronger consumer protections for online gambling, including a requirement for wagering service providers to verify their customers' identities before accepting bets from them. We've recommended a ban on inducements, a ban on the practice of going to people who are vulnerable—in particular those who have taken time out from gambling—and saying: 'Welcome back, here's some free money. Here's some match bets. Keep gambling.' We've also recommended a legislated duty of care on wagering service providers.

We know that online gambling companies advertise so much in Australia because advertising works. Online gambling has been deliberately and strategically marketed alongside sport. It has normalised gambling with sport as a fun, harmless and social activity that is part of a favourite pastime. It portrays gambling as perhaps making sport more enjoyable. But we heard evidence about the way gambling advertising also grooms children and young people to gamble and encourages riskier behaviour. The experiences of parents is that the torrent of advertising is inescapable. Their fears are that it's manipulating an impressionable and vulnerable audience to gamble online.

We heard in this inquiry from Australia's largest professional sporting codes, and the broadcast media, in step with their advertising and sponsorship partners in the gambling industry, broadly opposing further restrictions. We do understand that sponsorship and partnership with sporting organisations from gambling industry is significant money, and that advertising for free-to-air is significant money, but as the chair said, a time has to come when these organisations also think about their social licenses and their moral obligations. Although it may be difficult, they need to work out a way in cooperation with governments to wean themselves off that money if it's money that comes largely from people experiencing harm.

The committee shares the concerns of many witnesses and the community that the status quo is leading to a generation of young Australians who view gambling and sport as inextricably linked. It's concerning not only because of the potential increase in Australians experiencing gambling harm but also because of changes to the culture of sport that it has and can bring about. Australia would be diminished if sport was to be so captured by gambling revenue that providing an opportunity for betting came to be seen as its primary purpose. Sport is so much more than content for gambling, and surely the way the Matildas have inspired girls and boys and men and women alike over the last few weeks is evidence enough of this. The committee has recommended a phased comprehensive ban on all gambling advertising of online gambling services on all media—broadcast and online. It leaves no room for circumvention.

Partial bans haven't worked. Well-intended changes in 2017 and 2018 only led to the number of ads on television increasing. Industries will identify and capitalise on gaps in marketing restrictions and take advantage of the less regulated online environment. Targeted advertising online is causing harm and will continue to cause harm. The committee recommended that it be banned. The highest-risk harm should be addressed immediately. Sporting bodies and broadcasters will need adequate time to locate alternative sources of broadcasting revenue and to comply with concurrent contractual obligations. That's why the committee recommended a comprehensive ban be phased in.

The number of Australians who want to control their gambling is staggering. Half a million Australians have asked their banks to put temporary or permanent gambling blocks on their bank accounts. While most Australian banks have introduced measures to assist their customers in managing their gambling, there is inconsistency in the approaches taken by individual banks and other payment methods.

The committee has recommended the Australian government develop a set of minimum gambling harm prevention standards to be implemented by all Australian banks and for a ban on payment methods for online gambling that do not minimise the risk of criminal activity and gambling harm. The recent announcement by the government of the ban on the use of credit cards for online gambling is recognition that people should not be gambling with money they don't have, and it's welcome. The committee is also concerned about payday loans and the need to ensure the compliance of the payday lending sector with their responsible lending obligations.

The committee also heard evidence of children and young people being exposed to gambling through interactive games, like social casinos, which simulate real gambling and include gambling-like features such as loot boxes. Often, they're provided on platforms without appropriate classification guidance. The committee has supported the government's proposed changes to the classification system to reduce the risk of harm for social casinos and loot box features and interactive games, and we look forward to that occurring soon.

We have recommended that the classification scheme be consistently applied across online app stores, that a simulated gambling warning label be developed, minimum consumer protections on games, and that there be better education for young people, parents, caregivers and teachers about simulated gambling. We have heard that the National Self-Exclusion Register BetStop will be launched on the 21 August this year. Crucially, the government will also introduce a customer pre-verification requirement, meaning that individuals will not be able to place a bet until their identity has been verified. This is a very speedy implementation of an important recommendation of the committee and will both strengthen BetStop's protections for highest-risk gamblers and remove an opportunity for minors to gamble.

In conclusion, I wish to extend my sincere thanks and that of every member of the committee to the many people who contributed their time and expertise to this inquiry, particularly those who shared their personal experience of gambling harm. We know that it took incredible courage and strength for you to come forward, and members of the committee were very moved and impacted by the evidence that we received. It's your experiences, described in your own words, that have provided the foundation for this report and its recommendations.

I want to thank every member of the committee for their dedication and collegiality and emphasise that this committee listened to the evidence and provided a comprehensive and implementable recommendation base, based on the evidence we received. The members of this committee didn't take partisan positions or adopt any attention-grabbing recommendations or go for what was easy. Instead, everyone on the committee sought to grapple with the issues from all sides and to balance the choice of Australians to engage in betting as an entertainment with the financial implications for broadcasters and sporting organisations and the unarguable harms that are occurring across the industry.

I believe as chair that we have provided a road map for the government, and I've been heartened by the comments of the ministers about their approach to working through these recommendations and road map. I believe that the work of this committee, in particular, was an example of parliament at its best.

The other example of parliament at its best is the secretariat. They are sitting here today. Their work was second to none. Without the secretariat, I could not have chaired this inquiry and we could not have handed down such a significant and comprehensive report. I thank you all very much—John, Joel, Miriam and the team—for all of your hard work. We couldn't have done it without you.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I'd like to start by firstly thanking and commending the chair, the member for Dunkley, for her words in presenting this report from the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. It has been a pleasure to work side by side with her, as it was with the entire committee. It was good to see a committee working together to work on policy that will change people's lives. And that, I believe, will happen and must happen.

Since my election in 2019, I've consistently received calls from constituents—parents—relating to the proliferation of online and free-to-air gambling ads and the apparent lack of any sensible regulation in the arena. I've also spoken to concerned parents who lamented the relentless streaming of loot boxes, games and social casino apps that would pop up on their children's video games, and I've heard from desperate family members of those negatively affected by gambling, asking for help from others to stop them from falling in the gambling trap. That's why this inquiry was so important, and I think it could be said that every member in this House would have received those telephone calls, those emails and that correspondence.

Unlike more traditional modes of gambling, online gambling is instantly accessible 24 hours a day, and its regulation is inherently difficult, due to the reach and ever-evolving nature of the digital environment. It is also more open to insidious practices that are able to flourish without regulation and classification. We heard from members of the public who are directly affected by gambling harm and we heard from family members who have been affected through tragic circumstances. I applaud and commend their courage for coming forward to allow us to see the real impact, not just anecdotally, and hear those tragic stories. I thank all of you for coming along and providing your submissions and the evidence we heard so we could make an informed view.

The recommendations put forward by the standing committee go directly to answering those concerns. Importantly, these recommendations are not aimed at removing an individual adult's right to bet and they are not aimed at reducing Australian freedoms in relation to responsible gambling. What they are specifically aimed at is protecting our most vulnerable from experiencing gambling harm.

The recommendations include ongoing educational programs aimed at youth, parents, those currently experiencing gambling harm and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. They cover labelling and classification of apps and games. They include the implementation of technological solutions to identify and block problematic offshore gambling sites. They include comprehensive bans on all forms of advertising for online gambling outside the dedicated racing channels and programming. Our kids should not be bombarded with gambling messaging while watching their sporting heroes or watching the nightly news. They include the national regulation of available payment methods for online gambling, prohibiting methods that do not minimise the potential for criminal activity or gambling harm. One of those was to ban the use of credit cards and credit facilities, and we were all in agreement that you should not be gambling with money that you don't have.

These are just a few examples of recommendations contained within the comprehensive report. Each of these recommendations provided are pragmatic, actionable, achievable and will drive positive change in the protection against gambling harm. I'd like to thank each member of the standing committee for their contributions to the report and the bipartisan approach taken by all involved. I echo our massive thanks to the secretariat. We couldn't do it without you. Thank you.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Debate adjourned.