A ban on all gambling advertising within three years has attracted the most attention of the 31 recommendations made by the Australian parliamentary inquiry into online gambling, which reported this week.
But equally significant are the recommendations to adopt public health principles to prevent gambling harm, to appoint a national online regulator, and for Australian to lead the development of international agreements that “aim to reduce gambling harm and protect public policy and research from gambling industry interference”.
If implemented, the recommendations will advance gambling regulation by several orders of magnitude.
Preventing harm is a better goal than the current practice of ignoring harms until they become overwhelming. Building a fence at the top of the cliff, rather than providing a fleet of ambulances at the bottom, seems sensible.
