By The Guardian (World News) | Created at 2024-10-18 08:40:19 | Updated at 2024-10-18 10:29:14
2 hours ago
Newly released documents show how in the lead-up to footy finals the NRL, AFL and major wagering companies accelerated and intensified their efforts to directly lobby the prime minister’s office to influence a proposed gambling ad ban.
The gambling industry’s peak body sought to bypass the responsible minister and discuss ad ban issues directly with Anthony Albanese, according to documents tabled in parliament on Friday, which revealed details of letters, emails and meeting agendas and memos.
In a letter to Albanese, Responsible Wagering Australia argued gambling products needed to remain “visible” to punters to avoid the prospect of illegal gaming flourishing. It even claimed ad bans could lead to cheating in sports and racing. The PM’s office has also been meeting with gambling reform advocates.
The meetings and lobbying efforts were revealed in documents released after a Senate order prompted by the independent senator David Pocock, who accused the government of “pandering” to the wagering industry.
“More than a year after the Murphy Review recommendations were handed down, Australians deserve answers about why the government still hasn’t acted to curb the serious harm from gambling advertising,” he said.
The documents revealed the eagerness of the betting companies, and the NRL and AFL, to engage directly with Albanese’s office in July, August and September.
They show senior staff in the prime minister’s office meeting with gambling lobbyists, and the principal private secretary – Albanese’s top political adviser – responding directly to correspondence from the football codes.
The documents also note a September letter from the Alliance for Gambling Reform requesting to meet Albanese and a meeting between Albanese’s principal private secretary and the Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts group.
Contacted for comment, a spokesperson for Albanese said: “As is appropriate, the government has engaged with stakeholders regarding the recommendations from the online wagering inquiry as we formulate our response.”
“The government takes seriously our responsibility to protect Australians from the harms of online gambling.”
Pocock requested all correspondence about the parliamentary report “You Win Some, You Lose More”, between the prime minister’s office and the major football codes, gambling companies and gambling reform bodies.
The government has come under fire from reform advocates for favouring new restrictions on advertising, such as frequency caps, rather than a full ban as recommended by late Labor MP Peta Murphy.
The government claimed public interest immunity over “a limited amount of material relating to the senator’s request”, meaning some correspondence may be missing.
But the documents produced indicate increasing levels of lobbying of the prime minister’s office by the industry body as well as the National Rugby League and Australian Football League through the course of 2024.
In March the head of government relations for Responsible Wagering Australia – a peak body for betting companies including bet365 and Sportsbet – sought a meeting with the PM’s office to discuss the proposed gambling reforms. A senior adviser in Albanese’s team suggested a coffee near his Sydney electorate office in April.
RWA wrote to the PMO again later in April, thanking it for the meeting and saying its members “have a track record of going above and beyond the existing regulatory requirements to help minimise gambling related harm”.
The same week in March, a Sportsbet executive requested “a brief meeting” to “discuss with you Sportsbet’s view” on the inquiry’s recommendations. A PMO senior adviser replied they would be “happy to catch up” in April.
In June the NRL’s general manager of government and policy wrote to the PM’s office seeking a meeting between the code’s CEO, Andrew Abdo, and Albanese at Parliament House in Canberra on 2 July. A later meeting agenda proposed four discussion topics; three were redacted, the fourth was “wagering and [redacted] reforms”.
On 25 September the NRL’s government and policy manager again wrote to Albanese’s office, referencing “the NRL’s meeting with the prime minister earlier this month” – indicating another potential meeting in September.
The email also included a letter to Albanese which “details our position on the proposed reforms”. That letter was not included in the correspondence tabled to the Senate.
The prime minister’s office also received correspondence from AFL on 1 October, just days after their grand final, including an attachment titled “supplementary AFL submisison [sic] re alternative wagering advertising regulatory framework”.
Both emails were received and responded to by Albanese’s principal private secretary.
Albanese attended both grand finals as the guest of the codes. He disclosed “travel or hospitality” from the NRL and AFL to the games, according to disclosures on his parliamentary register of interests this week.
Further correspondence from RWA to the PMO, sent 12 August, references “closed consultation” they’d conducted with the government earlier that month, and claimed the ad ban would have “irreversible detrimental consequences” including increasing access to illegal offshore betting companies.
They suggested “a better solution”, including “age-gating” ads to users over 18 and opt-out rules. RWA said it was “confident” it could “implement a technical solution” with online platforms and publishers by January 2026, but conceded gambling ads should cease on any online platform until it could implement that capability.
A further letter from RWA, on 3 September, said the lobby appreciated the “professional approach” from ministerial staffers, but sought a direct meeting with Albanese to make their case.
RWA’s letter warned of the “risks of overregulation”, claiming gamblers would simply look to offshore providers if local gambling options “aren’t available or visible”. It further claimed “the integrity of sports and racing risks being compromised” if the government’s reforms led to gamblers moving to unregulated offshore providers, saying licensed Australian operators reported wagering irregularities to sporting authorities.
Pocock claimed the documents painted “a disturbing picture of the level of access gambling companies and their representatives have to the prime minister and his office.”
“This must stop – reducing harm and ensuring the wellbeing of Australian communities must be the prime minister’s priority, not pandering to the gambling lobby.”
