Anyone who watches sport like the AFL on television is exposed to gambling ads that can do great harm, says Labor MLA Dr Marisa Paterson, former director of the Centre for Gambling Research at ANU.
This week, she launched a petition for the Commonwealth Government to ban gambling ads on television, in response to a Federal inquiry into online gambling and problem gambling that began last week. She will submit the petition and Canberrans’ views to the inquiry.
“This is a great opportunity to mobilise the community’s voice to express serious concern about the level of advertising in the community,” Dr Paterson said.
“Online sports gambling is a very harmful form of gambling, particularly because people can do it on their phone, any time of day or night; no-one necessarily knows.”
In the ACT, 34.5 per cent of people who bet on sports or special events experience harm from gambling – compared to 26 per cent of poker machine players, the last Gambling Survey (2019) showed. Most of these gamblers are young men under the age of 45.
Advertising for online gambling is relentless, through social media, TV, and print, Dr Paterson said. Cigarette and alcohol advertising have been curbed in sport over the past two decades, but have been entirely replaced by gambling ads.
Earlier this year, Dr Paterson noted their perturbing and pervasive reach: “Ad after ad, on free-to-air TV at prime-time news hours, ads on social media, and on YouTube, were excessive. Two to three ads in one ad break were gambling companies.”
Children, too, are exposed to those ads, Dr Paterson said. Last year, 148 gambling ads were broadcast on free-to-air TV during primetime family viewing hours (6-8.30pm).
“It’s not as if we’re going to have a generation of young gamblers coming through; we’ve got multiple generations now of young people and also now children who have been exposed to this advertising.”
In NSW, 30 per cent of 12- to 17-year-olds admitted they gambled in some form, while her ACT constituents are worried about their children gambling.
One man told her his children sit around the dinner table and make jokes about betting on who finishes dinner first; they know all the betting companies.
Others have told her online gambling advertising is toxic for the community, and they are concerned about the harm that stems from it.
Dr Paterson is optimistic that the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs’s inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on problem gamblers will solve the problem. It is a promising sign, she thinks, that the enquiry is taking place at the start of the parliamentary term, and that it is chaired by a Labor member, Peta Murphy MP.
“There is serious concern about this issue, and it is being taken seriously,” Dr Paterson said. “I do hope some action comes out of it.”
Dr Paterson’s petition opened on Monday night; as of Tuesday morning, 120 people had signed it.
The ACT Council for Social Service (ACTCOSS) and the Alliance for Gambling Reform Support also support her campaign.
Dr Paterson hopes other community organisations, local businesses, and sporting groups will back her.
“This is a really important chance to have a say, and to express the community’s disdain for the level of advertising that’s been going on,” she said.
Submissions are due on 11 November for the federal inquiry.
Dr Paterson expects she will spend a lot of time over the next few weeks standing outside shopping centres encouraging the public to sign.
She also wants an education campaign to counter the advertising narrative: “You’re going to be rich and famous; your life could change overnight; it’s all about blokes and the boys and friendship and drinking and pubs.
“That’s not how it actually plays out. I have no issues with gambling as a regulated legal activity; adults do enjoy a bet. But they should be betting in an informed way; they need to be informed consumers. And I don’t think that that happens at the moment.”
To sign Dr Paterson’s petition to ban gambling ads on TV, visit marisapaterson.com.au/issues/bets-off-game-on/
You can also email your stories to [email protected]
If you are concerned about your gambling or someone else’s, you can seek support via the Gambling helpline – free 24/7 chat, email and phone counselling and support services if gambling is affecting you or someone you care about, on 1800 858 858 or gamblinghelponline.org.au.
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