‘You lose more’ is just one of the new campaign slogans that must be mentioned in future gambling advertising in Australia.

The changes were announced on Wednesday under new mandates for the first set of nationally consistent messages that outline the damaging effects of online gambling. 

Before the mandate was announced, online gambling companies had to tell its users to ‘gamble responsibly’ in their advertisements. But amid the spring races carnival, the Federal Government announced that companies will be required to run the new set of taglines supplied by the Government by March next year. 

Companies will be required to use these taglines across TV, video, digital, radio, print and social media, as well as in outdoor advertising and promotional materials. The mandate for these taglines has been designed to influence gamblers to second guess whether gambling is worth the loss. 

What are the new taglines?

• ‘Chances are you’re about to lose.’
• ‘Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?’
• ‘What’s gambling really costing you?’
• ‘What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit.’
• ‘Imagine what you could be buying instead.’
• ‘You win some. You lose more.’
• ‘What are you really gambling with?’

The taglines were developed through research that was commissioned by the Federal Department of Social Services, which conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with 224 regular online gamblers. It also included another focus group with 5000 surveyed and an additional 1000 participants that were members of the general public.

The results of the research escalated to be agreed upon by the Commonwealth, states and territory governments under the National Consumer Protection Framework.

Social Services Minister, Amanda Rishworth explains that online wagering was “fast becoming an increasing source of gambling and an increasing source of loss for people”.

“The Albanese Labor government is committed to harm minimisation and practical solutions when it comes to addressing problem online wagering. We have consulted widely and, importantly, we have used evidence to inform these taglines,” she says.

Online gambling companies must also take reasonable steps to give an equal chance to all the taglines across a rotation of 12 months. The department fact sheet highlights this to mitigate against “message failure”.

Consultants Hall and Partners tested 10 different taglines before condensing them into seven. It found “rotating different messages in market reduces the likelihood of [consumers] ‘tuning out’ to the message in a short space of time, as was an often-reported response to the ‘gamble responsibly’ tagline”.