Australia to Fund Gambling Ad Opt-Out Register With New Sportsbook Levy

Australia is moving ahead with a new Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register, a national tool that will let individuals block gambling advertising from online sportsbooks in a single step rather than adjusting settings on every platform separately. The measure is being funded not by taxpayers but by a new levy imposed directly on licensed wagering service providers.

The register was outlined in the Interactive Gambling (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2026, introduced to the Australian parliament this week as part of a broader compromise package between the government and lawmakers who had pushed for a complete ban on gambling advertising. Communications Minister Anika Wells told the House of Representatives the register would give Australians a “one-stop shop” for opting out of wagering ads across online platforms, similar in concept to the country’s existing Do Not Call register for unwanted phone solicitations.

Bookmakers, Not Taxpayers, Foot the Bill

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will be responsible for building and administering the register, as well as monitoring operator compliance with the broader advertising restrictions. Under the new levy bill, the ACMA will recover those administrative and enforcement costs directly from licensed interactive wagering providers.

“It is appropriate that the wagering industry, rather than taxpayers, bears the costs of regulating these activities,” Wells said in parliament, adding that the levy is intended solely to recover the costs of administering, operating, and enforcing the reforms — not to generate additional revenue beyond that.

The register emerged as a compromise after a Senate inquiry raised concerns that requiring individual platforms to build their own opt-out tools would be too cumbersome for consumers to manage across multiple sportsbooks and streaming services. The government’s earlier proposal had called for exactly that kind of platform-by-platform approach.

Part of a Broader Advertising Crackdown

The opt-out register is one piece of a wider set of gambling advertising reforms moving through Australia’s parliament, which also include capping free-to-air television gambling ads at a set number per hour, banning gambling ads entirely during live sport broadcasts within certain windows, restricting radio ads during school pick-up and drop-off hours, and requiring online platforms to verify users are logged in and over 18 before showing wagering ads.

Related legislation, the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, has already cleared the House of Representatives by a wide margin and now heads to the Senate, where its passage depends on support from the Coalition after the Greens withdrew backing over concerns the reforms don’t go far enough. As part of negotiations to secure votes, the government agreed to expand the pre-game ad blackout window and push back the start time for daily broadcast restrictions.

The broader reform package, including the advertising restrictions, is expected to take effect January 1, 2027, though officials have acknowledged the opt-out register itself may not be technically ready by that date. Details on how the system will verify a consumer’s identity across different sportsbook platforms have not yet been released.

For bettors weighing where to sign up before any new restrictions arrive, sites offering the best sportsbook promo codes remain a useful starting point for comparing current offers.

What Comes Next

The levy bill still needs to clear the Senate as a standalone measure, while the opt-out register and related advertising amendments are being folded into the existing gambling reform bill working through parliament this week. If both pass as expected, Australia would become one of the first major regulated betting markets to fund a centralized advertising opt-out system directly through operator fees rather than general tax revenue — a model that regulators in other jurisdictions grappling with similar advertising complaints may watch closely.