Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described the increasing number of gambling adverts during live sports events and sports broadcasts as “annoying”. At the same time, the leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, has been urging Australian lawmakers to suspend gambling adverts aired during match coverage.
The beginning of the week saw Mr Albanese face some questions regarding gambling advertising and the issues associated with it. At the time, he revealed that a review into online gambling is currently underway but refused to provide further details on questions regarding a potential ban. He, however, shared that he personally found gambling adverts during sports events and broadcasts “annoying”.
As mentioned above, the Opposition leader Peter Dutton used the opportunity he got during his budget reply speech a few days ago, to call for the Government to make sure gambling ads are officially banned not only during play but also one hour before and after a match. According to him, the joy of televised sports has been taken away by gambling companies that have been literally bombarding Australians with adverts promoting their services.
Even worse, Mr Dutton believes that such advertising effectively changes Australia’s culture in a bad way because it seems to be normalising gambling to persons at a very young age.
The leader of the Opposition has not been the only one who has called for similar action against televised gambling adverts. The Green Party and some independent Members of Parliament have made similar calls to the Government.
Gambling Advertising Ban Will Be Ineffective, Experts Say
No matter how harsh these measures may seem, anti-gambling experts claim that banning gambling adverts during live sports events will hardly do anything to control the problem. According to them, the implementation of a new gambling act that is fitter for the purpose and a blanket ban on gambling adverts in the country is the only way that could effectively control the issue.
Gambling market analysts shared that a potential suspension of gambling advertising on public broadcasters during live sports events will have very little effect because operators will simply start targeting online channels with increased advertising. That is why some of them have insisted on the implementation of a full ban on all broadcasting of gambling adverts. They have even pointed out that the Government has already taken similar measures against tobacco advertising, and gambling is often considered as harmful as tobacco, especially for individuals at a younger age.
Experts and anti-gambling groups have noted that politicians need to represent the interest of the community, not the ones of the gambling sector, and the community is obviously willing to have this issue solved, as it is unwilling to have its children targetted by companies that would only turn them into the “future generation of losers”.
More Australian Adults Exposed at Risk of Getting Hooked on Gambling
According to data provided by the Queensland Treasury, Australian residents bet over AU$174 billion in 2019/2022. The figures take into account racing, sports betting and gambling, such as poker machines and casino offerings.
The Australian Gambling Research Centre reported that about 75% of local adults have gambled over the last 12 months, and about 40% of them do so every week. Almost half of those gamblers (46%) are currently classified as being at risk of gambling-related harm, with the exposure to gambling advertising encouraging half of the individuals at risk of harm to start betting more.
According to research, young people between 18 and 34 years of age are increasingly at risk of gambling advertising, and so they are usually targeted the most by gambling adverts. Underage individuals, on the other hand, are the next big market. For the time being, more than 432,000 Australian children are known to be gambling online before even turning 16.
- Author
Daniel Williams
