Independent MLA Thomas Emerson will introduce a bill this week to ban political donations from gambling industry organisations and associated entities in the ACT.

The proposed changes to the Electoral Act would prohibit donations from casinos, bookmakers, racing bodies, poker machine venues, gambling equipment manufacturers and organisations that receive most of their funding from the gambling industry.

Mr Emerson said the legislation was modelled on the ACT’s existing ban on donations from property developers and close associates, introduced in 2021.

His office said the ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals have received more than $275,000 in donations and in-kind support from gambling industry entities over the past decade.

The bill would also require political parties to disclose in-kind donations such as free venue hire, which Mr Emerson says are not currently captured in weekly disclosures to Elections ACT.

“It’s a serious problem when politicians are captured by vested interests,” he said.

The proposal follows similar restrictions introduced in NSW, where political donations from gambling industry corporations were banned in 2011 and later extended to clubs operating poker machines.

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