Australian Test cricket star Usman Khawaja has urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to stop blocking gambling reform, batting away suggestions banning betting ads during sports could put athletes out of a job.

Khawaja wants the government to remove all betting from sport, rejecting the argument that sporting codes rely on its revenue.

Cricket Australia got more than two-thirds of its money from TV last year, with players receiving nearly a third of the code’s revenue, Khawaja said on Thursday.

“I’m sure you can do the math,” he said at Parliament House in Canberra.

He was joined by advocates and parliamentarians, including independent senator David Pocock, to discuss the need for gambling reform.

Khawaja said the only way to achieve gambling reform was to go cold turkey.

“What I’ve been seeing over the last 10 years has been very frightening and scary,” he said.

“Younger kids feel like they have to gamble on sport every single time they watch it.”

The federal government is privately hoping to have a response to a landmark gambling harm inquiry finalised by the end of 2025, after the final report was handed down by late Labor MP Peta Murphy in mid-2023.

The keystone recommendations were a ban on gambling advertising and inducements.

A draft response to recommendations was ready in November 2024 and Pocock has pushed for its release after Labor shelved any action ahead of last May’s election.

The former Wallabies captain has been critical of the lack of action, saying the link between sports and betting needed to be shattered.

He’s urging the government to act on the cornerstone recommendation to phase out gambling advertising and ban incentives to bet in full.

Free-to-air television stations and sports codes have warned a lack of advertising revenue would risk their viability. But reform advocates point to the phase-out of smoking advertising, which did not tank their business model.

Cricket Australia officials believe it would be one of the sports least affected by changes, having removed gambling advertising from the BBL and having no gambling partner for the league.

The sport still has gambling partnerships for international fixtures, but chief executive Todd Greenberg said he was happy to talk with Khawaja about the issue.

“It’s a hot topic in the federal government with all the recommendations. We’re keeping a close interest in that,” Greenberg said.

“Usman’s well within his rights to have his own views, and I encourage him to do that.”

Peak body Free TV has called for the government to permanently cancel a broadcast tax it brands as unfair to make up lost revenue from gambling ads.

Draft Labor policy never made public planned to limit gambling ads and ban them during and on either side of live sport broadcasts.

In a July letter produced under a Senate order from Pocock, Responsible Wagering Australia CEO Kai Cantwell told Albanese the industry was concerned about consumers using illegal overseas betting markets.

“I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you … to discuss our shared commitment to improving consumer protections for the 70 per cent of Australians who enjoy a punt in a safe and well-regulated environment with Australian licensed providers,” he wrote.

-AAP