Albanese Government Bans Gambling Ads on Jerseys, in Stadiums and During Daytime, Rejects Total Ban and National Regulator

The Albanese government released its formal response to the Peta Murphy gambling inquiry this week in 2026 under the cover of federal budget day. The response rejects the inquiry's call for a total ban on gambling advertising in sport and the establishment of a national gambling regulator.

Instead the government will ban gambling advertising on player jerseys, ban it in stadiums and prevent such ads from airing during the daytime.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the reforms "get the balance right ... so children don't grow up thinking sport and gambling are inextricably linked, but letting adults have a punt if they want to". The measures come 30 years after Australia moved in 1992 to ban tobacco advertising in sporting events.

By 1996 tobacco advertising in sporting events including cricket sponsorship was all but phased out. The Commonwealth has ignored the recommendation to set up a national regulator. It will continue to rely on the Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission as the de facto online gambling regulator.

More than 52 online bookmakers are licensed in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission meets just once a month and operates with no full-time staff. This week in 2026 the NT parliament passed legislation banning gambling commissioners from owning betting accounts and racehorses.

The move follows years of criticism that the part-time body is too close to the industry it oversees. Mark Kempster described the situation as "100 per cent his Big Tobacco moment" regarding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Kempster said that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese "has failed miserably".

He added that the absence of a national regulator, no ban on inducements and only a partial ban on advertising amounted to "a free kick to the gambling industry to keep them preying on Australians when they can". Independent MP Andrew Wilkie described the government's response as a "grim day" for Australia.

Wilkie said the government acted "so cynically and try and bury it and hope that no-one notices".

Australians collectively lose more than $25 billion annually on gambling and the country has the largest per capita gambling loss in the world. Tim Costello said the government's response "is only a half-measure, a timid response; it doesn't solve the problem of protecting kids". Costello said the AFL, NRL, and free-to-air TV were the "big gorillas" standing in the way of full reform.

He argued that sporting codes would have to cut junior sport programs without gambling revenue and that free-to-air television would suffer. The Alliance for Gambling Reform has highlighted the depth of the relationship between betting companies and major codes.

AFL team the Gold Coast Suns had been facing an integrity unit probe after it was revealed that their team manager Mark Opie is a co-founder of bookmaker Okebet.

Mark Opie was cleared of any wrongdoing late yesterday. The Peta Murphy gambling inquiry had called for a total ban on gambling advertising in sport and the establishment of a national gambling regulator to help stem the nation's huge gambling losses.

Critics have long called the commission ineffective, sometimes likening it to "a chocolate teapot". The NT parliament's legislation this week represents the first tightening of conflict-of-interest rules at the commission in years. Independent politician Justine Davis told NT parliament the bill was a missed opportunity to properly reform the commission.

The same criticism has been directed at the Albanese government's national response.