A partial ban on gambling advertising to protect children from exposure to the harms has been unveiled by the prime minister as part of a package of reforms slammed as “half-assed” by advocates.

Anthony Albanese has used his National Press Club address today to outline a series of gambling measures the federal government is planning to introduce.

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Labor’s plan includes a three-ad-per-hour cap on television broadcasts between 6am and 8.30pm, a complete ban during live sport broadcasts in that period and a ban on radio gambling ads during school pick-up and drop-off times.

Gambling ads would also be banned on online platforms unless users are logged in, are over 18 and have the option to opt out, while advertising using celebrities or athletes, odds-style ads targeting sports fans, and ads in sports venues or on players’ uniforms would be outlawed.

“We are getting the balance right, letting adults have a punt if they want to, but making sure that our children don’t see betting ads everywhere they look,” Mr Albanese told the National Press Club.

“Because we don’t want kids growing up thinking that footy and gambling are inextricably linked. We want Australians to love sport for what it is.”

Mr Albanese also flagged a crackdown on online lottery products and offshore gambling providers, as well as a ban on online keno “pocket pokies”.

The announcement came more than three years after the government was handed the You Win Some, You Lose More report from a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling harms led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.

Hands holding a mobile phone displaying a gambling app.

It has been three years since the government was handed a report on how to reduce gambling harms. (ABC News: Stephen Cavenagh)

The inquiry made 31 recommendations, including a phased total ban on online gambling advertising as well as TV, radio and in stadiums and on jerseys.

There was also a call to create a national online gambling harm reduction strategy, establish clearer Commonwealth regulation, a new independent online gambling ombudsman and introduce a harm-reduction levy on betting companies to fund research, education and support services.

One of the key recommendations was to ban or restrict inducements, such as bonus bets and promotions that encourage riskier betting.

Mr Albanese said the government would table a full response to the Murphy report when parliament returns in May.

“The Murphy report isn’t where it started and ended,” he said.

He added that “more than half” of gambling harms came from pokie machines, which were not addressed by the report.

Albanese to outline case for urgent reform amid global uncertainty

The prime minister will use a speech at the National Press Club to make his pitch for “urgent” change amid significant international uncertainty caused by the Middle East war.

But the prime minister labelled the proposal “the most significant reform on gambling that has ever been implemented”.

Following a report in the Sydney Morning Herald flagging Mr Albanese’s intention to imminently respond to the gambling inquiry, independent ACT senator David Pocock called on the government not to water down the recommendations.

“Rolling out a half-baked response almost three years after the Murphy review was released under the cover of major global conflict was a betrayal of all Australians,”

Senator Pocock said.

“Releasing this under the cover of a major escalation in international uncertainty for some minor tinkering on gambling advertising needs to be called out for what it is.”

Senator Pocock said the report had listed banning gambling inducements as the “most urgent” reform needed to minimise harm.

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“Australians haven’t suffered through years of harm at the hands of gambling companies to see some kind of half-assed response from an Albanese government captured by vested interests,” he said.

Deakin University professor Samantha Thomas, who researches gambling, said she was concerned the government’s response would not sufficiently address the harms, including the risk to children.

“We want action, yes — but not a charade,” she said.

“Effective reforms are needed that actually protect young people, not ones that leave the industry free to innovate around the rules.”