The Northern Territory government – which regulates Australia’s $50bn online wagering industry – consulted just one harm reduction group before introducing laws welcomed by the gambling giants whose advice was sought during their drafting.
The Racing and Wagering Act 2024, which was tabled last month and could be voted on in coming weeks, would allow the chief minister to direct the NT gambling regulator and its director in “the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions”.
The government had also initially considered increasing maximum fines to 10,000 penalty units, which was about $1.75m, before reducing the cap by 75% to about $445,000 in the bill.
The government sought feedback on its draft bill from all 28 online gambling companies licensed in the NT, including international giants Bet365 and Sportsbet.
It did not approach anyone based outside the NT, including regulators, gambling researchers, academics, treatment centres or financial counsellors.
Most online gambling companies were licensed in the NT due to historically lower tax rates, but operate nationally. Their conduct is policed by six members of the NT racing commission.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform has criticised the NT government’s closed consultation process, accusing the territory of being “out of its depth” and undermining the push to establish a national regulator, as recommended by a federal parliamentary inquiry.
The government said the legislation would bring maximum fines in line with other jurisdictions.
Gambling critics have long argued the fines were so low as to have little regulatory impact.
“The 10,000 [penalty units] figure was proposed as a starting point, partly in recognition of the size of the online wagering industry,” an NT Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade spokesperson said.
“However, following advice from the Department of the Attorney General and Justice, the maximum was reduced to 2,500 penalty units to align with other statutory bodies.”
The spokesperson said the government sought feedback on the bill from all licensed gambling companies, the racing commission, the racing appeals tribunal, the NT civil and administrative tribunal, government agencies, lawyers for the gambling industry, and one gambling support group – Amity Services.
The government declined to answer questions about why it did not hold an open consultation process and why it only consulted one local counselling service, given the national inquiry documented “powerful evidence” of harm caused by the online gambling industry.
Carol Bennett, the chief executive of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said the timing of the bill was “interesting”, given the Albanese government was expected to respond to the federal inquiry’s recommendations within weeks.
That inquiry, led by the former Labor MP Peta Murphy, called for a new national regulator to take responsibility away from the Northern Territory and be “responsible for all licensing and regulation”.
The inquiry’s final report said that “concerns were raised [during hearings] about perceived regulatory capture by online wagering providers in the Northern Territory”.
Bennett said the online gambling industry was too big and affected the livelihoods of too many Australians to be regulated by one territory.
“This is way beyond their remit and this is something the federal government should be stepping in to take control of immediately,” Bennett said. “They are way out of their depth.
“This effectively enables the Northern Territory government to propagate what is an opaque regulatory process already. It would allow the government to decide what probity assessments the regulator makes.”
When contacted for a response to Bennett’s criticism, a spokesperson for the NT government said it “takes regulation of the online wagering industry seriously and the new Racing and Wagering Bill demonstrates this by substantially increasing penalties and strengthening harm reduction measures”.
The spokesperson also said earlier legislation allowed a minister to direct the gambling regulator, and rejected claims this undermined its independence.
“An example of this was the direction to the commission a few years ago, to establish licence conditions that prohibited wagering on the outcome of lotteries,” the spokesperson said.
• In Australia, Gambling Help Online is available on 1800 858 858. The National Debt Helpline is at 1800 007 007. In the UK, support for problem gambling can be found via the NHS National Problem Gambling Clinic on 020 7381 7722, or GamCare on 0808 8020 133. In the US, call the National Council on Problem Gambling at 800-GAMBLER or text 800GAM.
