Gambling ads will be banned from sports broadcasts after legislation cleared federal parliament
The ban on gambling promotions from five minutes before the start of a sporting event until five minutes after – between 5am and 8.30pm – come into effect from Friday.
It’s part of a series of broadcast and content reforms that passed both the Senate and lower house on Wednesday.
Assistant minister Michael Sukkar said the ad bans were in response to community concern about the scheduling and quantity of promotions during sporting events, particularly around the impact on children.
But Labor MP Brian Mitchell suggested the 8.30pm cutoff time for the bans would only see people through the first quarter of a night sports match.
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He suggesting few parents would be brave enough to send their children to bed to avoid gambling ads while their team was still playing.
The reforms also give media watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority powers to determine program standards for gambling advertisements, which apply to certain broadcasters and pay-TV providers.
It will enable ACMA to apply broadcast-like program standards to online content for the first time.
