Australians lose an estimated $32 billion annually to gambling: more per person than any other country in the world.
The proliferation of wagering and gambling opportunities, backed up by advertising, has been blamed for Australia's unwanted No.1 status.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled a long-awaited action plan to curb gambling losses, with a focus on protecting children.
The federal government will look to ban radio ads at school drop off times, minimise television ads during hours kids are watching, and cut online ads unless users are verified as over 18.
Ads will also be banned during live sport broadcasts before 8:30pm, and at sports venues during play, including on players' and officials' uniforms.
That last measure should be celebrated as a "particularly positive part of the suite of announced measures", according to anti-gambling Tasmanian MP Meg Webb.
"That's an excellent way forward to make sure that we can begin to reduce exposure, particularly for children, from gambling advertising," she told AAP.
In 2025, the Tasmanian Upper House approved a motion, moved by Ms Webb, calling for exactly that.
The measure means the billion-dollar Hobart waterfront stadium will never host gambling advertising.
Beyond that measure, there is disappointment from a broad coalition of anti-gambling advocates - including the Australian Medical Association, various NGOs, the Greens, independents David Pocock and Kate Chaney, along with Ms Webb - to the changes.
"Everybody, of course, is highly concerned about the growth of online gambling, and particularly sports betting that's so accessible to people through their mobile phones," Ms Webb said.
"The opportunity to put some comprehensive protections in place is there (so) it's really disappointing to see the federal government fall short."
While the federal government is responsible for online gambling regulation and advertising laws, it's the states that manage licensing for gambling products like poker machines.
Some estimates put annual losses on the pokies as high as $13 billion, making them a particular target for anti-gambling advocates given their addictive properties.
"We should see all states looking to do much, much better on that front and Tasmania is heading in absolutely the wrong direction," Ms Webb said.
"We had announced a nation-leading player card to be used for poker machines ... when that was nearly fully developed, we had the government do an entire backflip and throw that in the bin.
"That's incredibly sad for our state. We will see higher levels of loss as a result of that here, and an increasing problem with poker machine harm."
A full government policy on gambling - framed as a response to a 2023 committee on the matter - will be tabled in parliament on May 12.
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