The Australian child protection watchdog has been outraged by the fact that three of the largest gambling operators in Australia are providing wagers on international cricket games involving underage players.
An investigation of ABC News has unveiled that TAB, Sportsbet and bet365 have been offering bets on the first edition of the Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup that is taking place in South Africa from January 14th to 29th, 2023. Almost 50% of the Australian players who have been taking part in the matches were under the age of 18, including minors Maggie Clark (age 15) and Lucy Hamilton (age 16). Eight of the 11 players on Sri Lanka’s team were also under 18 years of age.
Anne Hollonds from the National Children’s Commissioner explained that betting on the competition appeared as an exploitation of children and urged the Federal Government to unveil laws that suspend wagering on sports events involving underage individuals. Ms Hollonds criticised the three aforementioned online gambling operators, saying they were basically using young people for profit.
As confirmed by ABC News, at the time of writing, neither one of the three gambling companies has commented on the Australian media hub’s investigation findings. Sportsbet, however, has issued a statement saying that the company made sure that its offerings complied with all relevant legal and regulatory rules and requirements in the country. The online gambling operator further noted that it did not provide betting markets for competitions or events involving individuals under the age of 18.
At the same time, both TAB and Sportsbet have been providing pre-match odds on the outcome of the match between Australia and Sri Lanka, as well as several other matches in the aforementioned tournament, including India vs Scotland, Bangladesh vs USA, and South Africa vs UAE, since early this week.
In-Play Betting Services Still Remain Illegal in Australia
Currently, in-play betting services, which allow punters to place bets on a match after it kicked off, are not legally permitted in Australia. Despite that, the international gambling platforms of bet365 continued to offer various in-play bets on the match between Australia and Sri Lanka even after the fixture had already started, including on the timing of wickets and the number of runs in individual overs.
According to Catherine Ordway, a sports integrity specialist at the University of Canberra, in-play betting could pose extremely serious risks in matches played by underage individuals. She noted that, in the last few years, there have been various grooming techniques used by match-fixers targeting vulnerable people in order to make place bets on some matches or events.
For now, there is no suggestion that any of the players who have been taking part in the Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup have been involved in match-fixing activities. However, Dr Ordway warned that young athletes were much more vulnerable to match-fixers approaches on social media than adult players.
The governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia, once known as the Australian Cricket Board – Cricket Australia – issued a statement following recent media reports, saying that it was operating in line with the Government’s betting sponsorship guidelines. The organisation further noted that its anti-corruption education was held for all pathway programmes, including the one involving the under-19 women’s team of Australia.
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Daniel Williams
