Australia’s move to limit gambling advertisements in the nation has hit yet another roadblock, with authorities doubting whether there’s any possibility to push through gambling reforms within this year.
According to reports, the bill aiming to limit the exposure of gambling advertisements failed to gain enough Senate support and that the complexity of the bill has hindered it from advancing at this time.
Minister for Sport of Australia, Anika Wells, indicated that the financial well-being of various sports had been a factor in both deliberations and the decision that the bill to limit adverts was not yet ready.
Meanwhile, another government official indicated that there wasn’t enough Senate support to push through the controversial blackout period on gambling ads proposed to take place before and after major sporting events.
There has been pushback, with politicians accusing officials of being overly influenced by sportsbooks, broadcasters and the sporting codes themselves.
The delay comes despite multiple studies on the topic and a proposed three-year phase-in for a total ban on gambling ads, proposed after a parliamentary inquiry mid this year.
Some 31 recommendations were outlined in the report following the inquiry, with the sports minister noting that “I think it needs more nuanced work and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Minister Rowland on the 31 recommendations”.
Wells, as quoted by The Guardian, noted that “I’ve got concerns about how [gambling] is impacting sport integrity and how this is impacting our athletes”.
The official furthered “On the flip side I have national sporting organizations, professional codes worried about how this will impact the viability of their financial models”.
While the concept has been widely discussed, there is no strict outline of what the proposed gambling ad restrictions would entail.
“More work needed to be done. We hadn’t landed on a model where all different people and all different stakeholders from all different parts of the sporting sphere were able to accept it and able to, I guess, enact it as quickly as I think what you’re looking for,” stated Wells.
