The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,003 Australians about whether advertising of certain controversial products should be permitted on television. The results show that Australians agree that junk food, gambling, alcohol and tobacco advertising on TV should be banned, and more agree than disagree that ads promoting fossil fuels should uptown pokies $50 no deposit bonus be banned. The Australia Institute surveyed a representative sample of 604 South Australians about advertising at sporting events and in sporting broadcasts. Respondents were told that promoting tobacco products in sport is banned in South Australia and were asked whether they agree or disagree with a policy of extending that ban to prohibit the advertising of other goods and services.
1.1 Strength in numbers: coordinate reform across jurisdictions
More importantly, the central monitoring system in NSW is only one-way (rather than two-way, as it is in other states), and a two-way system is needed for state-wide pre-commitment. While many of the implementation challenges are greater for NSW, so are the benefits. Mandatory pre-commitment for pokies should be a priority given that pokies are a particularly harmful form of gambling (see Chapter 1). State governments regulate casinos, pokies, the racing industry, and other land-based gambling, with different rules in different states.
Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission
But if the review finds that more funding for services and/or research is needed, governments could make up the gap by increasing gambling taxes and closing tax loopholes. If feasible, a universal pre-commitment system could give gamblers better information about their own spending patterns and regulators better information on broader patterns of gambling and gambling harm – data that currently only the industry itself holds. The online and pokies pre-commitment schemes recommended in Section 3.2.1 also offer this side benefit. The federal government has responsibility for online gambling but is yet to step up and really own this role.
Betting at your fingertips and an inescapable ‘torrent of advertising’21
- Until the 1990s.40 Even today, only a small number of countries allow high-intensity pokies outside of dedicated gambling venues (such as casinos).41 However, in Australia, only WA limits access to gaming machines in this way.
- A core recommendation of the inquiry was a full ban on gambling advertising.
- People who gamble, their families, and the broader community pay the price.
- These recommendations would make gambling much safer, but they will take several years to implement.
- The federal government should assemble a National Taskforce and consider financial and other incentives to bring everyone to the table.
Most gamblers’ spending will be unaffected by our proposed maximum limits (Figure 4.4). Mandatory pre-commitment with maximum loss limits would ensure gamblers no longer lose more than they can afford. The federal government should establish a national pre-commitment system for online gambling, and state governments should roll out state-wide pre-commitment schemes for pokies.
The gambling industry’s political power lies in its ability to influence elections. They can make their presence known locally, with pokies providers in almost every electorate, stoke community fears about loss of jobs and services (Chapter 4), and they exert financial influence too. Mandatory pre-commitment with upper limits on losses could provide that safety net (see Chapter 3).