Sports gambling advertisements still need further regulation

The controversial nature of gambling advertisements throughout Australia is undisputed. In May 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed the Australian Government will ban gambling advertising before 8:30pm during live sporting events, and for five minutes before and after the start of play.

This law was introduced in March of this year and is most definitely a step in the right direction. However, sports gambling advertising still poses a risk to the youth and adolescents of our society and, despite the forward-thinking, this new rule is simply not good enough.

The new rule faced a backlash from executives of the nation’s biggest sporting codes, who argued the new restriction will hamper the value of television rights.

For these businesses, these new restrictions are detrimental. However, the restrictions are a good first step in solving this issue, as told by former Senator Nick Xenophon.

Xenophon believes further protections should be put in place to reinforce this restriction. “We need to ban all gambling ads during sports broadcasts, but at least we’ve made some progress,” he told the Australian Associated Press.

“It’s not the end of the story in terms of gambling reform.”

Politician Andrew Wilkie also believes this new rule is not enough, “We know that children are especially susceptible to advertising and hero worship and that gambling advertising has a real and measurable impact on the children who are subjected to it,” he said.

These gambling restrictions are not strict enough for the following reasons.

Gambling addiction is already too prevalent in Australian society.

Advertisements will still proceed to be played after 8:30pm in addition to the gambling advertising that is shown on the internet via social media or video sharing platforms at all times of the day.

The passive advertising and promotion of sports gambling make it so easy for someone to begin betting.

Once a person wins a small sum, they may continue to try and win more until it eventually forms into a disastrous addiction. The destruction a gambling addiction can have on an individual is most often overlooked.

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As stated by Stan Comino, an experienced counsellor at Newington College, “It only takes a single loss to cause destruction in a person’s life.”

“A person can lose their house or their family from a gambling addiction,” he said. “A gambling addiction can be compared to that of other addictions such as alcoholism in regards to the destruction it can impose on an individual.”

Mr Comino has previously counselled people with gambling addictions, one person being a teenager that had secretly lost thousands of dollars and subsequently suffered from adverse emotional decay.

Gambling advertisements are still being played after 8:30pm – the time in which most televised live sporting games are played.

In addition to this, gambling companies – such as Sportsbet – are still advertising gambling on social media. Before the restrictions, children were being subjected to 50.5 separate episodes (4.8 minutes) of sports betting marketing from watching a single NRL or AFL match.

This number still rings true with all sports televised after the restricted time – a time where most children are awake and watching these matches.

This overexposure to gambling enforces kids to associate gambling as a fundamental part of the sport. Rather than talking about their favourite team, kids are now talking about the odds of the given team winning.

Studies by the World Advertising Research Centre show that children lack the sufficient cognitive resources to critically evaluate and make formulated decisions on consciously meditated persuasive information directed at them.

Children are therefore at a huge risk of developing a gambling problem, and as stated by Stan Comino, “Young people are more susceptible to addictions such as gambling addictions due to the fact that they are in adolescence and easily influenced by their environment and peers.”

Underage gambling is still a prevalent issue in Australia and these new restrictions need to be improved.

For the past decade, sports gambling has been advertised to a ridiculous point. While there are new restrictions, the damage on the older people of our society has already been done.

As a result of this, the new rules enforced by Turnbull do little to help these suffering addicts. A permanent ban on sports gambling advertising must be enforced.

We know the damage that gambling addiction has on an individual, so why is sports betting still being advertised?

We know that gambling ruins the nature of a sport, so why does the advertising still exist? Unfortunately, to these betting companies, the copious amount of revenue is better than the wellbeing of the youth and adolescents of our society.

These restrictions are just not good enough.

Editor’s note: Yes, The Roar runs advertisements from our wagering partners across our website. However, this is Jack’s opinion and we support his right to express it.