When the AFL is the missing link between ex-Hawthorn player Brent Guerra and gambling agency CrownBet, more than a few eyebrows should be raised.
Up until this week, the link may have seemed innocent, innocuous or nondescript.
But that was before Guerra confessed to a four-year gambling addiction that cost him an alarming $400,000, which began while he was playing at the Hawks.
Guerra’s battle with gambling is not an isolated episode in the world of football, however, leading many to label gambling as the scourge of the AFL.
But how did we end up here? And why isn’t the AFL more accountable, particularly when one of their official partners, CrownBet, is a gambling agency?
Of course, where gambling is concerned, the water is often muddied. And when it comes to the relationship between sport and betting, the mud is thick.
The AFL has strong internal sanctions regarding gambling.
Indeed, Collingwood’s Jack Crisp was sanctioned $5000 as punishment for the four AFL bets he made while a listed Brisbane Lions player in March.
And an AFL score review official was found to have permitted another person to use his betting account to place 62 bets on AFL matches, leading to his permanent suspension for the 2015 season.
It seems that when it comes to keeping football clean, the AFL are more than happy to take a punitive stance.
But can the AFL really stand behind their tough internal policies when the names of betting companies are a constant iconography in the football landscape?
Come game day, whether you’re watching football from the couch or the ground, each intermission is filled by reminders to bet: on the first goal, the winning margin or a multi-bet, which is predicated on the outcome of more than one game.
And you don’t even have to leave your seat to complete the bet.
With the advent of smartphones and apps, online betting is now just a few clicks away – so, too, is the gambler’s ability to link up credit cards to the app.
Technically, then, you could be watching Carlton take on Essendon at the MCG while betting on Fremantle’s winning margin against the Swans at Domain Stadium.
Heck, why stop there! You could even dabble in horse racing, the greyhounds or the name of the next royal baby.
Guerra’s own experience is a testament to the consuming world of addiction. He said he’d bet on any sport at any time of day, as long as his partner wasn’t around.
Indeed, the amount of down time AFL players have may be one of the reasons gambling has become so ingrained in the betting culture at many clubs.
Going to the TAB or having a punt on your phone at home fills a spare half hour and, if you’re earning as much money as Guerra was, a couple of hundred dollars is not much to lose.
That’s because the average salary of an AFL player is around $250,000 – almost five times the average salary in Australia.
For young men, that’s a lot of money to be playing around with and, while draftees are on much less than that average figure, they still earn more than the average Australian.
In 2015, first round draft picks were paid $71,515, second round draft picks were paid $65,000 and third round draft picks or lower were paid $61,610.
That’s infinitely more money than most 18 year olds would receive.
And, in the unique AFL ecosystem, where clubs provide more to players than just a salary, the majority of that money is somewhat disposable.
Does this leave the possibility for young footballers to be tempted into betting their wage far too open?
To say the AFL is complicit in the downfall of footballers, such as Brent Guerra, may be a stretch too far.
But Gillon McLachlan and the AFL can certainly do more to ensure there are appropriate measures in place to prevent players becoming addicted to gambling.
Scrapping the live-betting ads at games and throughout the broadcast of games would be a good place to start.
Mitcher
Guest
Online ad placement is more intuitive than that. You could just have visited the right cocktail of page subjects to indicate you're in the potential sports gambler category. If that is the type of ads displaying on the roar.
WhereIsGene
Guest
I think the difference Ryan is that for decades the tobacco companies hid behind the defense that there was no proven link between cigarettes and lung cancer. So while everyone knew coffin nails were killers, it wasn't actually "known" in a provable public sense. Which suggests to me that what we need is more studies & research done to prove a link between casual gambling & exposure to gambling adverting and gambling addiction, and between gambling addiction and human misery in general. Only I suspect the online gambling companies have become powerful enough to lobby key decision makers and produce bogus research of their own, in much the same way BP & Halliburton cozy up to pseudo-intellectual climate change skeptics.
WhereIsGene
Guest
Exactly Macca. If we'd reached this level of gambling advertising saturation in an instant there would've been outrage but because its been a gradual buildup people have been conditioned to think it is acceptable, younger generations in particular. Online websites & apps make it almost impossible for junkies to escape temptation. Its not like nipping around the corner to the pub or finding a supermarket to buy cigarettes, falling off the wagon can be as easy as taking their phone out of their pocket. It isn't just a problem with advertising anymore. The broadcasts themselves show the odds of each team along with betting company logos and commentators use gambling lingo. They're about as tactful as they have to be while pandering to the gaming industry thats been such a windfall for footy.
Ryan Buckland
Expert
And I should add its not the AFL's 'fault' problem gamblers exist, but the third party endorsement they and other sporting agencies provide can't be helping the situation.
Ryan Buckland
Expert
Here, here. I've never placed a sports bet in my life, and have never felt the urge to. But I can understand the impulse, and indeed its guys in my generation (mid 20s male) that are the betting agency's patsies. The insidious element is the casualization of sports gambling - as in the article, all enabled by the internet and smartphones. It would take a brave organisation to turn away from ready, willing, and able funding provided by betting agencies. But I'm sure that was said of the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket administrators back in the day.
AR
Guest
Yeah ok I get it. But...whilst I don't like gambling, don't gamble personally, and hate all the advertising (esp around sport), I don't buy into the theory that the AFL is responsible for the choices Brett Guerra makes. There's gambling ads all over Ch.7, 9 and 10. Are they responsible for Brett Guerra's choices too?
AR
Guest
I've never laid a single online bet in my life...so that can't be right.
Jason H
Roar Rookie
Franko, when Ice is being advertised at qtr time telling the punters how much they can get a point for outside of Gate 10 at the MCG, then i'll concede it's relevance to this discussion. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you 100% addiction is addiction regardless the mode and gambling should not be advertised and promoted with the gusto that it currently is, the fact remains though, it's not illegal to gamble.
Franko
Guest
It's highly relevant. Both of these vices cause great destruction in our community. As with tobacco, gambling should be shunned from professional sport, not encouraged.
Bobbo7
Guest
I agree the AFL must take alot responsibilty as do governments, the NRL etc You cannot watch sport, any TV in general or even go on to sites like The Roar without gambling being shoved down your throat. This will undoubtably leads to the normalisation of gambling and sport for young people
Jason H
Roar Rookie
Definitely if that is the case then yes he would be in breach of the AFL rules regarding betting on the AFL and would be subject to what ever penalties apply, is it against the 'LAW' though, I don't know. It is my understanding that he was betting on Horses, dish lickers and the trots. Either way, drawing comparisons with a drug dealer seems hardly relevant.
Franko
Guest
Fair enough, one is an insidious pest ruining lives (especially young men) and tearing families apart, the other is Ice.
Jason H
Roar Rookie
AR, I think you'll find that the ads that appear on your page are as a result of your internet surfing habits, ie sites you visit and use regularly. Edit: Having said that, a gambling ad just popped up on my screen! :)
Franko
Guest
And so too must the AFL take some responsibility.
Franko
Guest
If Guerra was gambling on AFL games whilst playing, was he not breaking the law. Look at the Robbie Hooker case.
AR
Guest
People should note the proliferance of betting ads on this very website. At the top, on the side, promising discounts etc... But if I developed a gambling problem, I wouldn't blame The Roar.
Macca
Guest
Where is Gene - This is a very good point - if you are a recovering alcoholic youn can avoid temptation until you feel you are strong enough to handle it, if you have a gambling addiction you can't even sit in your own home and watch TV without the opportunity to gamble being dangled in front of your face.
WhereIsGene
Guest
Sorry, you're completely wrong. An addict is not solely to blame for their addiction if their environment strongly encourages addiction. Given the amount of online gambling ads in our faces these days I think we can safely say we've reached that point.
Bobbo7
Guest
yes Franko the dealer is most definetly also responsible. That might be why drug dealers end up in trouble with the law
AR
Guest
Geez Franko, that bow long enough for ya?