Attempt to stifle gambling adverts in Australia fails

Threats by Australian anti-gambling independent Senator Nick Xenophon to ban gambling advertisements during sports broadcasts came to nought today when his private member’s bill was rejected by the Senate Estimates Committee, where the Coalition and Labor members recommended against the Xenophon reforms.

The Xenophon bill, which is separate and distinct from the federal government’s Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill, proposed the advertising ban, along with the establishment of a national regulator and a national self-exclusion register for problem gamblers.

The Senate Committee concluded the Xenophon measures were not necessary because of the federal government’s reforms.

Characteristically, Sen. Xenophon “vehemently rejected” the committee’s recommendations, saying “the current (regulatory) framework, even with the recent government amendments, is woeful”, according to a report on Radio Australia.

Also last week, Xenophon’s attempt in the Senate to include amendments in a government bill which would have banned gambling advertising and created a national regulator, also fell on deaf ears.

The senator may be in for another disappointment; although he was successful in the Senate in getting an amendment passed last week which prohibited bookmakers from offering lines of credit, the amended bill must now return to the House of Representatives, where sources have said it is doomed to fail.

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