Labor will face strong opposition from gambling giants if it accedes to Coalition and Greens demands for a tough new ban on financial inducements for betting, part of closely watched Senate dealmaking expected within days.
Despite reports on Thursday that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, could insist Labor’s bill to limit advertising for online sports betting be passed in full or be withdrawn, the communications minister, Anika Wells, insisted she was prepared to negotiate.
After a two-day inquiry including sensational evidence that gambling companies allegedly provided illegal drugs and access to sex workers to keep problem gamblers betting, Wells is waiting on amendments from the Coalition, due to be finalised in party room meetings next week.
“We’re having constructive discussions,” Wells said on Thursday. “I’ll continue to do that with my counterparts. We’d love to see this pass.
“I would wait for the Coalition to form a position and to put those amendments to the government, exactly as this process always plays out when we try to put any piece of legislation through the Parliament.”
Debate on the bill was supercharged by sensational evidence from former NRL player Luke Bateman and veteran anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello this week.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailThey alleged problem gamblers had been supplied with cocaine, alcohol and sex workers, part of efforts from gambling company VIP managers to keep big-spending punters betting as long as possible.
Betting giants who appeared before the inquiry at a later session said there was no evidence to support the allegations.
Opponents of Labor’s bill have pointed to a landmark inquiry report delivered by the late MP Peta Murphy in June 2023.
Murphy’s committee recommended the government “prohibit all online gambling inducements and inducement advertising, and that it do so without delay”.
Separately last month, Labor’s national conference agreed to explore how to better prevent online gaming and social media platforms from offering “embedded inducements” within video games and social media accounts designed to incentivise and normalise gambling among children and young people.
The Labor backbencher Jerome Laxale on Thursday challenged the opposition to bring forward constructive amendments to advance a ban on the financial incentives offered to punters.
He said he would welcome Labor’s draft laws “being strengthened in the Senate”.
The acting opposition leader, Jane Hume, said the shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, was negotiating for new controls over inducements, suggesting gambling companies were using them to “essentially entice people to maintain their problem gambling addiction”.
“We want to make sure that these laws are actually delivering on their purpose, that they find the balance between what is a legal pastime, but making sure that we protect the most vulnerable,” she said.
The chief executive of lobby group Responsible Wagering Australia, Kai Cantwell, said further bans on inducements were a non-starter for the gambling industry, drawing a distinction between inducements and “promotions”.
He accused members of the Senate committee considering Labor’s bill of mistakenly grouping together appropriate promotions and illegal inducements.
“They are about product differentiation and customer loyalty,” he told ABC radio.
“We provide personalised services to the entire customer base. That is the benefit of account-based gambling. We understand our customers’ betting trends and patterns and can provide tailored consumer protections to our customer base as well, based on trends of betting and potential risk factors.”
Labor MPs including Louise Miller-Frost and Alicia Payne told Guardian Australia this week that the draft legislation should be significantly strengthened.
