Gambling reform deal expect to pass Senate as parties review debate

The government is closing in on a deal to pass long-awaited gambling reform, with party rooms meetings in Parliament on Tuesday expected to review and progress debate.

A report published on Monday evening from an explosive two-day Senate inquiry into the gambling reforms has recommended that the Senate pass the changes.

The overhaul comes after a 2023 report by the late Peta Murphy called “You win some you lose more”, which Anthony Albanese responded to with a string of proposed reforms in April 2026 at a National Press Club address.

Labor, however, faced criticism from the Coalition, Greens and crossbench who had said they didn’t go far enough.

Mr Albanese has since held several personal meetings with Opposition leader Angus Taylor to try to strike a deal, with targeted inducements and online gambling ads key sticking points.

Inducements can include VIP perks, bonus bets, boosted odds and sign up bonuses and were a key discussion point during the Senate inquiry after former NRL player Luke Bateman said he had been offered drugs by waging groups to keep him betting.

Several participants in the inquiry raised concerns over the “predatory” nature of the wagering industry, including reduction researchers claiming it is one of the most effective drivers of compulsive gambling.

Communications Minister Anika Wells on Monday tabled amendments to Parliament which featured a single “opt-out” register to allow Australians to block gambling ads across all platforms through one central website.

The idea has been likened to the Do Not Call register for spam calls.

“The government’s reforms will respond to these concerns by introducing new restrictions on inducement-based marketing and establishing the wagering advertising opt-out register, which will provide Australians with a one-stop shop to opt out of seeing wagering advertising on online platforms,” Ms Wells said.

The proposed website would be run by the regulator, Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The amendments to the legislation also confined the inducements crackdown to vulnerable users by including mandatory pauses for recent BetStop exiters and time-limited ban for new accounts, as well as bans on so-called VIP account managers.

While it’s understood Labor and the Coalition have all but agreed to making changes to the gambling legislation, Mr Taylor is expected to face some resistance from his party if he can’t secure a strong enough crackdown by some MPs standards.

Some have threatened to cross the floor if a complete ban on inducements and an opt-in model for advertising isn’t achieved.

The Coalition joint-party room is expected to meet later on Tuesday morning to review the changes after they were put before the shadow cabinet on Monday evening.

Labor’s reforms also include broadcast advert occurrence and time restrictions, sports and uniform ad bans, “pocket pokie” crackdowns and school drop-off and pick up radio ad blocks.