13 Federal Lawmakers Back NT Bill to Ban Bonus Bets at Australia's Biggest Bookmakers

An open letter urges the Northern Territory Government to back an independent's bill that would ban inducements, cap young adults' deposits and lift fines to A$10 million. Because most of Australia's large online bookmakers are licensed in Darwin, the rules would reach punters in every state.

• An open letter dated 5 October urges the Northern Territory Government to support independent MLA Justine Davis's gambling harm bill; ABC News reported 33 signatories, and the version on Davis's website lists 36 entries, 16 of them sitting parliamentarians
• The 13 federal parliamentarians who signed are 12 crossbenchers, among them Andrew Wilkie, David Pocock and Zali Steggall, plus Liberal Senator Andrew McLachlan; no federal Labor member or NT government member is listed
• The draft bill would ban inducements such as bonus bets and VIP schemes, cap monthly deposits at A$500 for 18 to 21 year olds and A$1,000 for 22 to 24 year olds, and lift the maximum penalty from A$194,000 to A$10 million or 10% of annual revenue
• Fifty online bookmakers, including Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and Bet365, are licensed in the NT, according to ABC News, so the rules would reach their customers nationwide
• It follows federal reforms passed in August that restricted inducements rather than banning them; NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said the government would consider "all sensible proposals on their merits"

An Open Letter Asks Darwin to Do What Canberra Did Not

An open letter dated Monday 5 October calls on the Northern Territory Government "to put people before gambling industry profits" and to support reforms put forward by Justine Davis, the independent Member for Johnston in the NT Legislative Assembly. "The Federal Government recently had an opportunity to make meaningful changes to gambling regulation, but wasted it," says the letter, published on Davis's website. It asks for harm prevention to become a clear purpose of gambling law, stronger conflict of interest rules for members of the Commission, a ban on inducements "including free bets, bonus bets and VIP treatment", stronger protections for young people and tougher penalties. Davis is due to introduce her bill next Wednesday, ABC News reported.

ABC News put the signatories at 33, but not all are lawmakers. The version on Davis's website, read by iGaming Times on 8 October, lists 36 entries, including the heads of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory, the Australian Council of Social Service and Suicide Prevention Australia, Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello, researchers and people with lived experience. Sixteen are sitting parliamentarians. Thirteen sit in Federal Parliament: Senators David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe and Andrew McLachlan, and MPs Andrew Wilkie, Zali Steggall, Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan, Helen Haines, Kate Chaney, Rebekha Sharkie, Sophie Scamps, Dai Le and Nicolette Boele. McLachlan, a Liberal senator for South Australia, is the only signatory from a major party.

The consultation draft, the Racing and Wagering Amendment (Harm Prevention) Bill 2026, would ban licensees from offering inducements, defined to include sign-up bonuses, free bets, deposit matches, loyalty programmes and VIP schemes. It caps monthly deposits at A$500, approximately $350, for customers aged 18 to 21 and A$1,000, approximately $700, for those aged 22 to 24. It places a positive duty on licensees to take all reasonable steps to prevent harm, lets harmed customers sue, and puts the burden of proving compliance on the licensee, according to its explanatory statement. The maximum penalty would rise from A$194,000, according to ABC News, to the greater of A$10 million, approximately $7 million, or 10% of annual gross revenue. The draft also bans arrangements paying third parties ongoing payments, trailing commissions or revenue share tied to customer losses, while allowing one-off referral fees, and would create a public register of conflicts for the Northern Territory Wagering Commission.

The Federal Backdrop and the Territory's Response

The 2023 inquiry chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, whose report You win some, you lose more made 31 recommendations, called for inducements to be banned without delay and a comprehensive advertising ban within three years, ABC News noted. The package Parliament passed in August instead restricts inducements and bans wagering advertising during live sport from 1 January 2027, as iGaming Times reported; MPs had earlier claimed a full advertising ban would pass on a conscience vote.

Wilkie told ABC News the bill "attempted to do what the federal government has so far failed to do". "What the Territory decides doesn't stay in the Territory," Costello said in the Alliance's endorsement. Boothby said the government would "consider all sensible proposals on their merits. But let me be clear: while we encourage all people to gamble responsibly, you can't legislate personal responsibility." The Country Liberal Party government passed its own changes earlier this year, including doubling the annual tax cap for NT-licensed operators from A$1.5 million to A$3 million, ABC News reported. Davis said Labor had told her it would support the bill, though Deputy Opposition Leader Ed Smelt said Labor wanted it referred to the Legislative Scrutiny Committee.

The Territory's Licensing Lever Cuts Both Ways

The bill's reach comes from the same fact that drew bookmakers to Darwin. ABC News describes the NT regulator as Australia's de facto watchdog for online bookmakers because of the Territory's low taxes, so rules passed in a 25-seat assembly would govern accounts held across the country. That is the signatories' argument, and it is also the bill's weak point. A Territory licence is a commercial choice, and a regime pairing a A$3 million tax cap with an inducement ban, deposit caps and a reversed burden of proof changes that calculation. Operators would argue, as a paper prepared for Entain did last month, that friction in the licensed market pushes customers offshore. Neither the letter nor the explanatory statement addresses what happens if licensees move.

The Commission Ban Reaches Further Than Bonus Bets

Bonus bets made the headlines, but the ban on revenue share and trailing commissions tied to customer losses goes deeper into how Australian wagering pays for customers, leaving only one-off referral fees and fixed advertising payments. Paired with a positive duty that lets harmed customers sue, the draft moves risk from customer to operator in a way the federal package did not. The deposit caps are narrower than they look: as drafted, they apply to accounts with each licensee, so a 20-year-old with several bookmakers is not capped at A$500 in total.

A Crossbench Letter Is Not a Majority

Apart from McLachlan, the bill's parliamentary backers sit on crossbenches, and the federal ones have no vote in Darwin. In the Assembly it needs the government, whose Attorney-General's first response led with personal responsibility, while Labor's support comes with a committee referral that would slow it. The text is a consultation draft, and what reaches the chamber may differ.

The letter has made the Territory's role as Australia's de facto online regulator a political question again, two months after Canberra settled for restrictions. Whether Darwin treats that as an opportunity or a threat to its licensing business will be clear when the bill is debated.