An ACT Labor backbencher will lead a campaign to have gambling advertising banned on Australian television.
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Marisa Paterson will on Monday launch a "Bets Off, Game On" campaign, including a petition to a federal parliamentary inquiry calling for an end to the advertisements.
"Sport should not be synonymous with gambling. Kids in Australia should not grow up knowing the bettering companies as much as they know the teams in their favourite sport," Dr Paterson said.
"These international betting companies contribute nothing to our community, yet they extract billions of dollars a year and cause countless harm to Australian families."
Dr Paterson's campaign has been prompted by the House of Representative's standing committee on social policy and legal affairs' announcement of an inquiry into online gambling and its impacts.
"We have done so much work over the past couple of decades to stop cigarette advertising because we know advertising works, yet we have let our guard down and now our sport and TV is overrun by gambling ads," she said in a statement.
Dr Paterson also pointed to research which showed 35 per cent of people who bet on sports of special events experience gambling harm, compared to 26 per cent of poker machine players who experience harm.
The Labor member for Murrumbidgee said the petition would form part of a submission to the federal parliamentary inquiry.
Submissions are open until November 11.
Gambling advertisements are restricted on Australian television, which is regulated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
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Gambling advertisements are already banned during children's programming on television.
Broadcasters are also not allowed to promote gambling content that is "socially irresponsible" by targeting children or exaggerating the likelihood of a person's success gambling.
Dr Paterson was the director for the centre for gambling research at the Australian National University before she was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2020.
Dr Paterson has been increasingly vocal on gambling issues as a member of the Assembly, including in May calling for a review of online gambling in the ACT.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
