The main trade organisation representing free-to-air commercial broadcasting groups in Australia has turned down calls for further crackdown on gambling advertisements and warned that such actions may result in the reduction of free coverage of sport.
Free TV Australia has shared that the extent of betting ads aired on TV has been much exaggerated by some anti-gambling campaigners, and that has led to a poor understanding of the ongoing restrictions by the local community. The peak body for free-to-air commercial broadcasters made a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the harm associated with online gambling and argued that further restrictions on gambling advertising would make the provisions of sport broadcasting for free extremely difficult.
As explained by Bridget Fair, the chief executive officer of Free TV Australia, advertising was the only source of revenue for the majority of the groups operating in a pretty competitive market. She further noted that sports rights are currently one of the most expensive types of programming acquired by Australian broadcasters, so making things work would be a lot harder in case the market becomes subject to even more restrictions than now.
A similar submission to the inquiry was made by the peak body for the biggest sporting codes in Australia to argue that the reduction of the advertising revenue generated by gambling companies would result in less money for so-called grassroots game development.
Children Still Have Access to Gambling Advertising, Research Says
The last few months have seen some evidence that current restrictions under which gambling advertising is not allowed between 5:00 AM and 8:30 PM and during live matches are no longer effective in making sure that underage individuals are well-protected against gambling-related harm.
According to one of the gambling researchers at Deakin University, Dr Samantha Thomas, many children still have access to gambling adverts to the extent they are able to identify gambling operators only by their brand colours. Underage viewers of the ads can also cite the celebrities that take part in the advertising materials of a particular company, and some are even able to explain the technical aspects of betting, which is even more concerning.
The Australian Government has also been urged by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to take into consideration children’s exposure to gambling, citing evidence that complaints have almost doubled over the last financial year. The regulator’s submission to the inquiry says that the Government needs to take into account various assessments of the effectiveness of the country’s gambling advertising rules, especially the ones that quote the changed viewing behaviours of underage individuals.
An analysis provided by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation (VRGF) found that 948 gambling advertisements were aired on average each day on free-to-air TV channels in the state of Victoria in 2021.
- Author
Olivia Cole
