Australian Football League’s (AFL) grab for a larger share of gambling revenue may face a legal showdown from bookmakers.
The AFL, which is the top sports league of Aussie rules football, has been looking for ways to increase its revenue and has turned to the betting scene.
As reported by the Australian Financial Review, the AFL has been negotiating with gambling companies like Entain and Sportsbet Since the beginning of 2025.
AFL is offering to maintain services to major gambling companies in exchange for a share of match betting proceeds.
The proposal focuses on a “product fee” to take a larger share of bets placed during its matches, from 0.9% to 1.5%.
The fee will be applied during finals or on multi-bets, taking a greater share of a bookmaker’s revenue or turnover from a match, depending on which is more profitable.
The league also wishes to impose a $20,000 annual fee on all bookmakers who offer bets on its games. A proposal that very few bookmakers support, leading them to seek legal challenges.
Josh Tews, a lawyer at Pat Brown Legal, said: “In some cases, the fee will more than double.
“On behalf of each of our clients, we hope constructive discussions with the AFL will resolve this issue without the need to resort to formal legal processes.”
How gambling companies are fighting back
The report suggests an intention to eliminate smaller players lacking funded integrity units, which uphold an organization’s ethical standards.
Several bodies representing bookmakers have voiced their concerns about the AFL’s draft, believing that it will put many businesses at risk at no benefit to players.
Lyndon Hsu, joint chair of the Victorian Bookmakers Association, said: “The AFL reportedly collects over $40 million in levies annually, which more than overwhelmingly covers the cost of its integrity operations and indeed generates significant returns.
“We are concerned that such a significant Australian sporting body such as the AFL would implement policies that place so many Australian businesses at a significant disadvantage to larger overseas conglomerates.”
The AFL’s move to profit further from gambling, despite being faced with criticism from both public health officials and the betting industry, will now potentially face legal challenges.
The AFL has faced criticism for being among the last to discuss gambling ad reforms with the prime minister before they were postponed.
Law firms such as Pat Brown Legal are offering to oppose the AFL’s draft on behalf of affected gambling companies.
A letter from Pat Brown Legal read: “A number of clients have approached us regarding a challenge to the AFL product fees, including the increase in turnover/revenue fees and the $20,000 minimum annual fee.
“We are offering our clients and any other bookmakers an option to challenge those fees.
“We believe bookmakers have good prospects to challenge these fees because of the significant increase and large minimum fee.”
In other news, alcohol and gambling companies gave $2.5 million in donations to major Australian political parties.
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