Long-time anti-gambling advocate Tim Costello has warned that Australian codes still claim that sponsorship deals with gambling and sports betting operators are crucial for keeping premier sports alive in the country.
The sponsorships and the fact they have been heavily promoted to the public have helped create ties between gambling and sports, with particular focus on the Australian Football League (AFL). As a result of all this, Australian children start accepting gambling as something normal from a young age, not to mention they are left to believe that gambling and sport go hand in hand.
Mr Costello shared for The Guardian that, still, 37% of sports fans are concerned about the prevalence of sports betting adverts in the Australian Football League.
The anti-gambling campaigner has reminded that, several years ago, sports in Australia were mainly sponsored by tobacco companies. However, once the detrimental effects of tobacco have been fully acknowledged and the Government has taken action against the advertising of such companies, the sports cut their ties with tobacco companies. About three decades later, the Australian gambling industry has replaced tobacco companies in their partnership agreements with sports.
The last few years have seen much controversy because various sports clubs and associations have started sharing their concerns about the possible negative effects that links between gambling and sports could have on local people’s lives. Anti-gambling campaigners have been trying to raise awareness of the dangers of gambling, especially when it comes to vulnerable people.
Gambling Operators’ Sponsorship Deals Advertising Creates Links between AFL and Sports Betting
As mentioned above, Tim Costello has been a campaigner against the normalisation of gambling for many years. Now, he has tried to warn the public that young adults who extreme gambling advertising have lured into thinking sports betting is just fun, are actually more likely to start their gambling journeys as soon they become of age. He also warns that many children have AFL Club apps on their smartphones, which also makes sports betting odds available to them when looking up some information about teams or games. According to Mr Costello, all this has helped underage individuals get acquainted with betting odds from a young age.
On the other hand, gambling adverts have literally bombarded Australian children, making them largely unaware of the risks associated with gambling and the extremely negative impact it could have on all aspects of their lives as both children and adults. The long-time anti-gambling campaigner has reminded that sports betting remains a high-risk activity, especially considering the fact there are currently no limitations regarding either the number of bets or the maximum size of the bets one can place.
The existence of credit cards that can be used by punters to place bets on sports events is not making things easier. Mr Costello noted that Australians who use their credit cards to place bets often lose more money than they can actually afford to. This, combined with the 24/7 availability of sports betting services on users’ smartphones makes gambling on sports a highly intimidating activity, according to Mr Costello, who has long been calling for more restrictions to be implemented on the country’s gambling sector in order for Australian people to be better protected against gambling-related harm.
- Author
Daniel Williams
