The Australian government has published its ‘official response’ to online gambling reforms sought by the late Peta Murphy.

The much-awaited response has been published two years after Labor MP Peta Murphy submitted her 2024 parliamentary inquiry into gambling harms and federal interventions, titled “You win some, you lose more: the impact on those experiencing gambling harms”.

The inquiry was the final parliamentary project undertaken by Murphy, who passed away in December 2023. 

Her recommendations on federal gambling reform were widely expected to shape the agenda of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, following commitments made by the Labor Party during its 2022 Australian election campaign.

Murphy called to end the “normalisation of gambling”

Australia’s online gambling laws were heavily scrutinised by Murphy, who questioned whether the existing regulatory framework and operating conditions were effective in reducing harms and extending support across the country’s six commonwealth states.

Of significance, the inquiry sought to challenge the “normalisation of gambling” in Australian society, as “Australians lost more than AUD $32bn (circa €19bn) on legal gambling in 2023/24, with average losses of around AUD $1,521 per adult (€900)”. 

Based on these figures, Australia has the highest per-capita gambling losses of any regulated jurisdiction.

The reduction of harm associated with online gambling has long been seen  as a key challenge for the government, as “research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that in 2024, 15% of Australian adults were experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, some form of gambling harm”.

During the inquiry, research from the State of Victoria stated that the “cost of gambling harms in the state neared AUD $14bn (€8bn) in 2023 alone, comprising adverse financial, emotional and psychological costs, relationship and family impacts, and productivity loss”.

In response, Murphy – alongside further work undertaken by former Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth – called for direct government intervention to end the “normalisation of gambling” in Australia, arguing that a stricter framework of online gambling laws was urgently required.

The Murphy Inquiry recommended that the Labor government adopts five federal-level online gambling reforms:

• A phased outright ban on online gambling advertising over a three-year period across television, radio, social media and sports sponsorships.
• The creation of a Federal Online Gambling Regulator/Agency to end the fragmented oversight of Australian states governing gambling licences, standards and compliance.
• Unified and mandatory consumer protection obligations for gambling licensees, including standardised rules on customer ID, onboarding, data protection and restrictions on welcome incentives and sign-up offers.
• Inter-agency coordination to treat gambling harms as a public health issue across Australian states, including a national harm-reduction strategy, independent research funding, public education campaigns and improved gambling harm data collection.
• Increased enforcement against unlicensed and offshore gambling operators, including new legislative powers to strengthen enforcement against illegal gambling activity.

Labor stands by softer-touch reforms

In response the Labor government defended its position by stating that it had already implemented many of the strictest recommendations outlined within the Murphy Inquiry, adding that the early signs of harm reduction are becoming more evident.

Labor believes that it has advanced Murphy’s reforms through the introduction of a nationwide ban on the use of credit cards, digital wallets linked to credit products and cryptocurrencies for online and land-based wagering transactions, which came into force in June 2024.

The government stated that the measure “aligned online betting rules with land-based gambling controls” and was specifically designed “to prevent vulnerable consumers from gambling with borrowed money”.

The government further highlighted that it had already introduced mandatory gambling warning taglines in March 2023, launched the BetStop national self-exclusion register in August 2023 and implemented mandatory classifications for gambling-like gaming content and loot boxes in September 2024.

The broader reform package outlined by Labor will be implemented from 1 January 2027 and will include sweeping restrictions on advertising, expanded powers to combat illegal offshore gambling operators, and strengthened BetStop protections.

Further reforms will target foreign-matched lotteries and “shadow” lottery products, in addition to a complete ban on online keno, expanded gambling financial counselling services and a national public awareness campaign focused on gambling harms. 

The response further added that gambling advertisements will be prohibited from being displayed during live sporting broadcasts between the hours of 6am and 8:30pm. 

Gambling ads will be removed from sports venues and player uniforms, celebrity endorsements will be banned and online gambling advertising will only be permitted under a “triple lock” system which requires users to be logged-in and to have not opted out of advertising communications.

Albanese still in hiding 

Political fallout continues over gambling reforms in Australia. The Labor government was branded “cowardly” in media headlines for publishing its response in what critics viewed as “a way to bury Murphy’s recommendations”.

An alliance of crossbench MPs continues to pressure Labor to proceed with the outright gambling advertising ban sought by Murphy, with calls led by independent senator and former Australian rugby union captain David Pocock who rejects the package of reforms brought by the Albanese government. 

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused Labor of failing to meet Murphy’s demands, arguing that the government had prioritised the interests of gambling companies, broadcasters and sporting bodies over public health concerns.

Pocock, meanwhile, labelled the government’s decision to unveil the gambling advertising reforms on the same day as the national budget announcement as a ‘cowardly’ one.

PM Albanese has faced consistent accusations of hiding from confrontations on gambling reforms, in which he refused to speak on the matter during the 2025 federal election. 

Labor to fix fragmentation first 

Labor maintains that it carries the “spirit of Murphy” within its agenda to reform gambling laws. 

However, the government and its advisers recognise that both the reforms and implementation timetable must move to fix the  fragmented structure of Australia’s gambling framework, meaning that federal intervention requires coordination with states and territories rather than unilateral action

PM Albanese rejected claims that the government was protecting the interests of gambling companies, maintaining that his Labor government will overhaul Australia’s gambling laws to establish a new national standard focused on protecting consumers and vulnerable individuals.