The NSW Labor Government has announced a ban on gambling advertising cross the state's public transport network.
Transport operates one of the largest portfolios of advertising assets across Australia, with 798 advertising boards at Sydney train stations, 49 road facing digital billboards, adverts on up to 3,711 urban buses, 76 trams and across the Tangara train fleet.
The ban extends to all casino, lottery, and online betting advertising.
The government will now work with multiple advertising contract holders to implement the required changes over the next 12 months.
Advertising on NSW transport sites in handled by several outdoor media companies.
JCDecaux was last year awarded the Transport for NSW (TfNSW) bus advertising contract for all buses in the Sydney Metropolitan regions.
QMS expanded its state portfolio with an agreement with Transport for NSW covering nine of Sydney’s digital out of home assets, including the overbridge on Cremorne’s Military Road.
Transit Media has exclusive advertising rights to Sydney Light Rail and oOh!media last year won the highly sought after Sydney Metro competitive tender for outdoor media.
Transport minister Jo Haylen acknowledged the prevalence of gambling advertising on public transport and the need for reform.
"Parents are rightly worried about the impact it has on their kids, so its not something that we think that needs to be on our transport network," she said.
"With over 3,500 buses, close to 800 advertising assets at train stations, as well as advertising on light rail and trains, Transport’s advertising contracts are vast. Because of the scale it will take some time to implement this change, but we will be working closely with our contract partners over the next 12 months to get this done."
Transport’s advertising suppliers must ensure that all advertising material complies with all applicable laws, accepted industry standards and codes of conduct established by the advertising industry, such as the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Advertiser Code of Ethics and AANA Code of Ethics Practice Note.
Transport’s contract holders will have to comply with additional rules, including a ban on political advertising on all assets, which applies equally to all political parties.
Where assets are not owned by Transport, including bus stops, retail outlets or nearby private property, the NSW Government will work with the relevant entitles to see how their advertising can align with the gambling advertising ban.
Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said removing gambling advertising from public transport is another demonstration of the Minns Labor Government’s commitment to reducing gambling harm in NSW.
"This move will reduce the public’s exposure to gambling advertising and builds on the suite of reforms the government has introduced over the past 20 months to reduce harmful impacts of gambling," he said.
The ban comes after a number of reforms introduced by the Labor government to reduce gambling harm, which include reducing the statewide gaming machine entitlement cap, established an Independent Panel to conduct a trial of cashless gaming in venues and committing $100 million to research and treatment.
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