Unfortunately there is a fair amount of politics in this for a few reasons. One is that gambling companies are significant political donors and have representatives definitely on Albanese's staff, on Morrison's staff when he was PM. I'm not sure if any are on Dutton's personal staff. They move between Responsible Wagering Australia which is the industry body for online bookmakers and the staff of political leaders.
. The issue around gambling advertising is a difficult one because it's not really the gambling companies standing in the way of the ban. I think they'd love to see it banned, because of the incredible amounts they spend seeking market share. The people who don't want it banned are the media companies because a high percentage of their revenue comes from gambling advertising without which some would struggle to survive.
. In terms of gamblers themselves there's not really much of an excuse with online bookmakers. There's a central exclusion database which I think allows the gambler, with one click of the mouse to self exclude from all operators for the period of their choice. Other forms of gambling are more problematic in terms of stopping, but with online bookmakers the person only needs to decide once to stop, and they're excluded from all operators for the period of their choice, if I understand it rightly.
