Sportsbet and Tabcorp have strongly denied the explosive allegations that they supplied vulnerable gamblers with drugs and alcohol.
These claims were made by the former Australian rugby league player Luke Bateman, who told a parliamentary inquiry into gambling advertising that he attended an event where senior figures at a gambling company took illicit drugs with clients.
Gambling harms campaigner Tim Costello also alleged that Tabcorp and Sportsbet offered one problem gambler drugs, sex workers and free accommodation.
However, Jules Norton Selzer, Director of Corporate Affairs for the Flutter-owned Sportsbet, said that the company had “zero evidence of the allegations”.
He told the inquiry: “No information has been provided to us beyond what was referenced yesterday, and we will gladly investigate it.
“Our objective is for adult customers to enjoy our product safely and responsibly, and that is why we continue to support measures to reduce underage exposure and strengthen consumer protections across the range of federal and state regulatory models that we operate within.”
Julian Whealing, representing Tabcorp, also emphasised that the operator has a “zero tolerance for this behaviour” and argued that Tabcorp is “Australia’s most regulated wagering company”.
The extent of gambling advertising across Australia has become a fierce battleground, and opposition politicians have routinely lambasted the Labor government for failing to implement the full raft of recommendations made by a 2023 report into the industry authored by the late MP Peta Murphy.
Murphy’s report made 31 recommendations centred on treating gambling harm as a public health issue, which included a comprehensive ban on all gambling advertising.
However, Labor, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has chosen to take a less drastic approach, unveiling plans earlier this year to limit the number of gambling advertisements broadcast each hour, impose complete bans around live sporting events and implement safeguards on social media.
Independent Senator David Pocock, who has led the charge against the gambling industry, told the inquiry that the gambling sector is guilty of blaming others for the exposure of young people to gambling.
He referenced a constituent who said that a Sportsbet ad was served to his child between two Disney songs on Spotify. When challenged, Norton Selzer said responsibility for that rested with Spotify and the account holder.
“This is exactly why Australians are sick and tired of the BS that you try and tell us,” Pocock said.
“You keep telling us ‘we’re a great industry. We’re doing all these things. We want to protect children’ and then as soon as I bring up a thing, it’s Spotify’s fault, it’s that parent’s fault.”
Labor’s gambling advertising reforms are set to be implemented from the start of 2027, and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles defended the decision to diverge from Murphy’s report, telling reporters following the inquiry that the current government has “done more in respect of problem gambling than any government has ever done”.
