The Australian government has reportedly set a 2032 deadline for sports teams and clubs to remove online gambling logos and related advertising from their jerseys.
The timeframe has been condemned by addiction advocates in the country, according to a report from The Guardian, because it gives sports teams’ commercial interests priority. Most teams reportedly do not even have gambling sponsorship deals that extend that far into the future.
Martin Thomas from the Alliance for Gambling Reform in Melbourne told The Guardian that the “compromised gambling reforms” will not make a significant impact on addiction-related harm.
The government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced that it had “delivered historic reforms that will provide strong protections against online gambling harms for all Australians.”
The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 passed the Australian Parliament on Aug. 19. Local media first reported on the then-upcoming reforms in April, which were widely criticized when made public. A 2023 government report recommended “a phased, comprehensive ban on online gambling advertising.”
“These are far short of the reforms needed to meaningfully reduce gambling harms,” Sally Gainsbury, a gambling harms researcher from the University of Sydney, wrote on LinkedIn in April.
The government identified 11 “key reforms” in its August announcement. Some appear meaningful, such as banning online keno. Others appear much less so; for example, a rule banning the use of athletes, celebrities or influencers to promote wagering could be sidestepped by having them promote “responsible gambling.”
Ultimately, none of the provisions would ensure that a person does not lose excessive sums.
In an interview earlier this year with GamblingHarm.org, Matt Browne, a gambling researcher at Central Queensland University, described in simple terms how Australia could prevent harm.
“The only measures that would help would be ones that limit excessive losses,” Browne said, but added that “there is no appetite from the government or industry to do anything that would actually work. There is a lot of appetite for doing things that sound good or look good.”
One example Browne gave was a mandatory gambling card or account-based system with compulsory limits. Under that system, a person could gamble up to a reasonable cap, and then they would be stopped.
“That would absolutely work,” Browne said. He said recreational gamblers would barely be affected.
The new gambling reform package in Australia will be subject to a statutory review in three years to gauge its impact, according to The Guardian.
