Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expects to put the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 before parliament in October 2026, describing it as the country's toughest anti-gambling regulation. The House of Representatives should pass it without much trouble. The Senate is a different matter: Labor does not control it and needs either the Greens or the Liberal-National coalition.
The central change covers inducements. Only bonuses not directly tied to a gambling product and aimed at new customers are banned today. Direct offers to existing players who have agreed to mailings do not count as advertising under the current rules. The bill tightens that after hearings in which Luke Bateman, a former rugby league player, said bookmakers invited him to sporting events and offered him drugs. The commission also examined cases of operators supplying high rollers with sex workers.
Television gambling advertising would be capped at three spots an hour between 6:00 and 20:30, with a full ban during sports broadcasts. The stated aim is to cut children's exposure. The measures follow a 2023 report by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy. The Greens and some independents want advertising banned outright, and that is where the Senate vote gets complicated.
Albanese met opposition leader Angus Taylor and said he was confident of bipartisan support. He framed the issue as a balance between the right to entertainment and the fight against gambling addiction.
