Through Advertising and Technology, Betting Agencies are Creating Problem Gamblers.

It feels like the government had a handle on gambling advertising for as long as I can remember. What changed? Were there policy changes, or did a new market develop that resulted in companies beginning to seriously capitalize on it? I am sure each and every person reading this would currently be feeling inundated with gambling advertisements. Whether you are watching general TV, sports-broadcasting, browsing your social media or even getting off the train. Gambling advertising seems to be prominent wherever we look. Even as someone who likes gambling, such as myself, this inundation is becoming too much. The worst thing is that children are becoming exposed to these marketing messages far too often.

[caption id=”attachment_6558" align=”alignright” width=”330"]

Ladbrokes Station Wrap — Fortitude Valley[/caption]

I argue that restrictions need to be put in place to nullify advertising that could connect with children. Products such as alcohol, tobacco and R18+ entertainment have all succumb to strict advertising policies in the past. Also with new technologies, and an extremely fast paced (and often live) market, online gambling companies have also made it easier then ever to have a bet. The issues we are now facing are that gambling companies are creating and exploiting problem gamblers, and the easier it’s becoming to bet, the easier it can become a problem.

South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon said the nation needed to deal with the harm caused by online gambling right now. He believes there are major problems in particular around sports betting. ‘’That’s the sort of thing we need to toughen up in terms of the promotion of that, having it in your face, the Tom Waterhouses of this world being able to promote themselves in front of an audience that includes lots of kids is a real issue.’’ Senator Xenophon has added that ‘‘there is something seriously wrong when more and more kids across the country are quoting the odds of a game rather than how a player is going or how their team is going.’’

[caption id=”attachment_6556" align=”alignleft” width=”267"]

http://richard-di-natale.greensmps.org.au/gambling-promotion-sport[/caption]

Online gambling companies have focused on the ease of gambling. Once registered, depositing money is as easy as one click, and deposit limits are not readily available. When I was a member of Sportbet.com.au, I was able to get a credit limit of $200, and this money, that was not mine, could have potentially been placed on a greyhound race and lost within 30seconds. Gambling companies have had to find their ‘X-factor’, the thing that sets them apart from their competitors. The Sydney Morning Herald advises that “there is a war on between sports betting companies for the gambling dollar — which is estimated at more than $21 billion a year’. At the introduction of their smartphone app, Sportsbet.com.au even used the slogan “Faster-er. Easier-er. Better-er’’. The issue is that this faster and easier technology means that it is faster and easier to blow your hard earned money then ever before.

[caption id=”attachment_6559" align=”aligncenter” width=”561"]

www.sportsbet.com.au[/caption]

Now I personally love to place the occasional bet on my favorite sporting event, and have been doing it for years. I also embrace this new technology, and the quick and easy usability of the app often works in my favour, but I am not someone that has a gambling problem. I would spend a maximum of $40 a fortnight on gambling, and often do it to enhance the viewing of the sport I am already enjoining with friends. I do this to include the possibility of reaping economic benefits along with emotional ones. Where I see the main issue is the freedom for someone with a gambling problem to, almost anonymously, spend their hard earned money on gambling, possibly to the detriment to themselves and their family. There doesn’t seem to be any limits and spending caps in place. In Sportsbet’s defence, a friend of mine, who did not have a serious problem but felt he was spending too much, contacted Sportsbet and asked them to close his account. They asked him what was the reason, and he advised that he was spending too much money. In their system they inputted his cancellation reason as ‘Gambling Problem’, and no matter how much he has begged them to re-open his account, they would not budge. The problem here is that he just moved onto another one of the major betting companies and was signed up within minutes, even with sign on bonuses.

The final issue I have with the current gambling environment is the advertising. Should this not be monitored or restricted like the tobacco and alcohol industries are? The Age Melbourne ran a story advising that on-field gambling advertising in cricket has “more than 13 minutes of sports betting logos shown during an average day’s play of Test or one-day international cricket”. The Footy Show on Channel 9 is a Logie Award Winner for Most Popular Sports Program. Sportsbet.com.au heavily sponsors the show and along with live odd’s throughout the live show, there is an entire segment sponsored by the company and hosted by a Sportsbet representative. This show is marketed towards families, and although it runs late into the night it would still attract a high youth audience. Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation chief executive Serge Sardo has called for an end to the freedom of gambling to advertise to markets that involve children and that “children were now growing up in an environment where everywhere they look they are being told to gamble”. Also that “the lessons of alcohol and tobacco suggested on-field advertising was highly effective at encouraging certain behaviours”.

[caption id=”attachment_6557" align=”alignright” width=”330"]

http://article.wn.com/view/2015/06/30/ Thursday_night_football_to_return_NRL_National_Rugby_League_/[/caption]

Even a lot of punters like myself believe that the betting advertising is becoming overkill. When Tom Waterhouse started his massive influx of in-game advertising and commercials in 2013, he opened a debate into the degree of advertising the audiences were being subjected to. Even the public complained and the backlash towards channel 9 about his presence in the commentary teams resulted in him being stood down. Again Senator Nick Xenophon came out and advised that ‘’Tom Waterhouse has pushed the envelope to the extent that it has now got to the point that it’s out of control and there needs to be a legislative response.’’ Satirical videos like the one below from ‘The Hamster Wheel’ even begun to emerge, which shows the extent to which the general public was ‘over’ seeing Tom Waterhouse’s face on every NRL football coverage.

There has been a significant push by some members of parliament to have these issues debated and policies put in place to curb this inundation of gambling advertisements. Greens Senator Richard De Natale has a campaign currently in place in which he is calling for the removal of gambling promotion and sponsorship in sport, and an end to the ad barrage.

I agree that a push to curb the advertising is required, especially towards the younger members of our society. Maybe if the constant messages pressuring one to gamble during a sport event are removed then problem gamblers may be able to recreationally watch a sport without having the urge to bet flashed in front of their eyes for 13minutes a game. Maybe children will stop quoting the odd’s to their parents when debating who will win the next sporting match-up. I in no way disagree with gambling or sports betting and believe there is always a place for it within society, I just believe that it has to be better monitored, tougher registrations and gambling limits put in place, and that advertising should be reduced to an only adult audience.