Inducements are at the centre of the government’s long-awaited gambling reform. What actually are they?

The prolonged , contentious gambling reform process in Australia is set for some movement at last.

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 is being negotiated by the federal Labor government and Coalition opposition for re-presentation to parliament.

One of the main issues concerns inducements – the practice of betting companies offering special deals or gifts designed to keep people gambling.

These feature prominently in the so-called Murphy report , which more than three years ago sought to counteract online gambling harm.

The report recommends prohibiting all online gambling inducements and inducement advertising “without delay”.

Yet, to the consternation of many crossbenchers and some government and coalition politicians, the original bill did not mention inducements at all.

This month’s Senate inquiry into the government’s proposed changes brought inducements squarely back into view, after allegations some gamblers were provided with alcohol, illicit drugs and even sex workers.

What are inducements? The Murphy report defined inducements as “a type of marketing used by online gambling operators to attract new customers or to encourage existing customers to gamble”.

Inducements can include deposit matches, bonus bets or money-back specials.

They are often targeted at individual gamblers through direct messaging.

An example of some of the inducements betting companies use.

But this month, the gambling industry sought to twist this definition.

In their Senate appearances, industry figures narrowly defined inducements as “things like sign-up offers and sign-up bonuses”.

These offers for new customers were banned in 2019 under the National Consumer Protection Framework .