2% gambling revenue tax proposal could stop advertising in Australia
Date: 2024-08-19 Author: Robert Beloved Categories: EVENTS
Earlier this month, the Australian government pressed ahead with plans to restrict gambling advertising during regular TV programming, despite pressure for a total ban. But as the debate continues, a new option is on the horizon – a proposal to introduce a 2% tax on gambling revenue to help offset the losses media companies would suffer from the end of bookmaker advertising.
'A rare win-win situation'
The country's gambling problem was discussed in late June in light of a Roy Morgan study published by the Alliance for Gambling Reform. The study found that around a fifth of gambling operators' users are problem gamblers, and they are responsible for around a third of all sports bets.
With gambling advertising having a negative impact on society, particularly vulnerable groups such as children, the introduction of a new tax could be a "rare win-win situation", according to Stephen Long, a senior research fellow at the Australia Institute.
The Australia Institute, a Canberra-based think tank that conducts research to improve the country, has proposed using the tax to offset the losses caused by a total advertising ban.
The institute said "a small tax on the billions of dollars that companies receive from Australians" could offset the media companies' potential losses of $240 million, while preserving funds for increased funding for public broadcaster the ABC.
The idea has found support among the Green Party, which also wants a total ban on gambling advertising, as opposed to the government's proposed restrictions on regular TV time.
The institute said a 1.4 per cent tax would be enough to offset the $240 million spent on advertising on free-to-air TV, online and metropolitan radio stations.
An analysis of Australian gambling revenues, which totalled $17.2 billion in the 2022-23 financial year, found that a 2% tax, which Long called "a small fraction of the money lost on betting", would offset any losses to media companies.
He said such a tax would "reduce advertising harm while also securing revenue for community media".
The institute's chief executive, Richard Dennis, said that while they did not expect "gambling volumes to decrease" as a result of the ban, "it would obviously be good news" if it did reduce the number of gamblers.
"Corporations should pay for ruined lives"
Dennis also pointed out that Australians lose the most money on gambling in the world, around $25 billion a year, calling the "alarming statistic" evidence of the need for stronger policy action.
Green Party spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said "gambling corporations should pay for the lives they ruin".
She added that research showed "it is possible to ban gambling advertising while still funding journalism that works in the public interest".
The Labour Party is seeking to ban gambling advertising online, during live sport and in children's programming, and limit it to two adverts per hour during regular TV broadcasts.
The proposal now awaits approval from the cabinet or party council.
