WA toughens gambling compliance as Australia waits on Labor ads code

The government of the Commonwealth State of Western Australia (WA) has announced that it will increase penalties for gambling infringements in a move to toughen enforcement and oversight of gambling compliance.

New amendments to WA gambling laws have been signed by State Premier Roger Cook to impose significant penalties for breaching WA gambling laws and to support the regulator’s compliance and enforcement activities.

Reforms were recommended by the Perth Casino Royal Commission, which was tasked with providing recommendations to modernise WA gambling laws and compliance.

The adopted changes will allow WA’s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) to impose greater fines for compliance failures and the infringement of licensing duties.

Of significance, WA has reformed its gambling laws to align with unified policies applied by other Commonwealth states to harmonise and improve the regulatory oversight of gambling across Australia’s six federal states.

As such, WA gambling laws will incorporate the common rules of the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Gambling and the National Policy on Match-Fixing in Sport.

The changes have been endorsed by Racing and Gaming Minister Paul Papalia, who previously called for greater powers to be given to the GWC in the management of its licences.

Papalia stated: “The law reform is designed to significantly expand the regulator’s compliance and enforcement powers and increase the penalties to ensure they are an effective deterrent to non-compliance.

“Addressing all the legislative reform recommendations of the Royal Commission will take time, but we are well advanced on our pathway to implementing the wide-ranging changes that are required to establish a modern regulatory framework, not only for casino operations but for all gambling activities in WA.”

Labor indecision on gambling ads

In broader developments, pressure is mounting on the Labour government to settle on the terms of a new federal code for gambling advertising.

The Labour government had backed the recommendations of the Murphy Report to implement a three-year phase-out of gambling advertising across all media platforms.

However, an intervention by PM Anthony Albanese brought forward a proposal that Australian networks adopt a whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling advertising during sports broadcasts, along with further watershed advertising restrictions.

Albanese was accused of watering down the proposals brought to Parliament by the late Labour MP Peta Murphy, as Labour ministers remain split on which approach to take.

The Labour government faces calls to settle the matter before the Australian Federal Election in May.This week, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young stated that she was willing to co-author a new bill for gambling advertising protections.

The Greens support a blanket ban on advertising, but Hanson-Young noted that the party could compromise on short-term changes to protect between 100,000 and 150,000 Australians suffering from gambling harms.

The Senator stated that the Greens would table amendments favouring a ban on all TV advertising and prohibiting gambling adverts during prime-time viewing across TV and online platforms.

The Labour government has neither confirmed nor finalised the proposals, with Albanese previously dismissing reports as hypothetical, stating that legislation would be formally completed in 2025.

Michelle Rowland, Labour’s Communications Minister, acknowledged that legislation was taking longer than hoped, as the government continues to work through consultation and policy processes.