The 2026 football season is upon us, that means that, once again, our screens and stadia will be polluted with wall-to-wall gambling advertising.

Not that you would know it from the narrative broadcast by AFL HQ.

Last week, thousands of club members – myself included – received an email from AFL PLAY stating the league’s commitment to health and wellbeing.

“Our commitment to mental health and wellbeing is for every participant’s mental fitness to be protected and promoted through footy,” the email read.

This struck me as … ironic.

As Australians, the so-called “great game” is part of our cultural identity. From kicking the footy as kids, to coaching, umpiring, and supporting our children as they play, to packing the stands at Marvel Stadium and the ‘G’ –  Aussie rules is in our DNA.

But while the league is committed to mental health and wellbeing on the field, the experience of watching the game is shaped by something very different.

Millions of spectators across Australia are routinely exposed to a product harmful to our mental health and wellbeing while watching our national game. That product is gambling.

Gambling advertising is a normalised part of sporting culture in Australia.

The federal government’s media regulator has found that we’re exposed to over 1 million gambling ads on free-to-air TV and radio every year.

Despite the Turnbull government’s inadequate “siren to siren” ad ban, which has been in effect for almost eight years, our biggest sporting competitions are still aggressively targeted by gambling companies.

We’re actually seeing more ads now than we were before the partial ban was enacted.

Beyond traditional marketing platforms like TV and radio, millions more gambling ads run at sporting grounds, on the backs of the players, before video highlights appear online and across popular streaming services.

Gambling is so deeply embedded in footy that the AFL has, for many years, received 10 cents in every dollar gambled on its games.

On Thursday, my mighty Blues and the Swans will kick off the third AFL season since the Murphy report unanimously recommended a comprehensive ban on gambling ads.

That report was commissioned by the Albanese government. It was handed down almost 1000 days ago. It recognised, as do I, that gambling is not an issue of individual responsibility. It is a major public health issue for Australia.

One in seven Australian adults experiences gambling related harms. That’s 3.1 million Australians. One in every two men who gambles is at risk of financial harm.

But these harms extend far beyond financial distress into the realm of physical and mental health.

Gambling results in significant psychosocial challenges, mental health conditions, domestic violence, increased substance use, homelessness, self-harm and in the most devastating circumstances, the taking of one’s own life.

People experiencing gambling harm are more likely to experience other health issues.

Gambling costs my home state of Victoria $14 billion a year in social costs. This includes $3.3 billion a year in emotional and psychological harm, including depression, suicide attempts, and fatalities.

In recognition of these harms, the Murphy report recommended a public health approach to gambling. Such an approach would align with Australia’s treatment of other products that are addictive and cause harm, such as tobacco.

The kicker is, however, that a public health approach to gambling would require governments to prioritise protecting the public from harm over their economic interests and close relationships with the gambling industry.

This will be challenging, given the infamously close relationships between politicians and gambling lobbyists, television networks and sports administrators.

Just last month it was revealed that at least six federal Labor and Liberal politicians, including an assistant minister and multiple shadow ministers, recently accepted free tickets to sporting events from major gambling companies.

But there is too much at stake (and too much support) to cave in to industry pressure.

Former Labor MP Peta Murphy championed reforms that, if adopted, will reduce gambling harm – and we know these recommendations have the backing of many within the government’s ranks. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of Australians want obnoxious, harmful gambling ads off our screens.

A The New Daily poll on Wednesday found its readers overwhelmingly support government action to curb harmful gambling in Australia.

When asked “Should the government do more to curb gambling due to its potential public health impacts?”, 91 per cent of the more than 2100 respondents resoundingly supported action.

That kind of sentiment is why on Monday I introduced the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Gambling as a Public Health Issue) Bill 2026.

The bill seeks to formally recognise gambling as a “public health matter” and enable the agency to produce evidence-based reports and data on the harms of gambling – much as it is able to for other addictive and harmful products.

If passed, this legislation will begin to shed light on an issue that the Albanese government has been unwilling to address — by transparently demonstrating that gambling is a public health crisis Australians can no longer afford.

Dr Monique Ryan is the independent MP for the federal seat of Kooyong

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