Martin Thomas, CEO for the Alliance for Gambling Reform
19 Aug 2024
The gambling lobby has a well-thumbed playbook developed from earlier health warnings and advertising restrictions on tobacco and alcohol.
So now if we ban gambling advertising we are putting at risk Auskick, the kids’ version of Australian rules football, according to the sport’s governing body.
As it turns out the AFL wasn’t concerned about protecting its fat profits from gambling revenue – including promoting and taking a cut from bets with minuscule chances of a win – but all this time they were concerned about our children’s ability to participate in Saturday sport.
Leaving aside the fact the AFL gets government grants to support Auskick and has one of the big four banks as a major sponsor, it is gratifying that the league is so concerned about our kids.
Even if it means we have to hook this next generation on gambling – it is all just for their own good.
Likewise, broadcasters are now warning a ban on gambling advertising would put at risk billions of dollars spent on free-to-air TV.
We may never again see free-to-air TV with its important news and current affairs, sport – and not to mention Married at First Sight and Love Island – if a gambling ad ban goes ahead.
There is particular concern about the impact on regional free-to-air television. It is an impact that is keeping government ministers awake at night with concern.
This is even though, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, regional television receives only 12 per cent – or $29 million – of the advertising take from gambling ads.
This is a pittance in contrast to the profound, costly and devastating impact gambling is having across Australia.
It is worth noting the report by the Australia Institute that a 1 per cent levy on $17.2 billion gambling company revenues could easily offset the $239 million in gambling advertising on free-to-air TV, metropolitan radio, and online. If the levy was 2 per cent you could also increase funding to the ABC.
If the levy-funded transitional compensation to broadcasters and the levy was controlled completely independently of the gambling sector, it is worth considering.
It is telling, however, that the warnings of doom are not coming from television or sporting executives speaking out publicly so that we can have a transparent, open discussion about gambling advertising and its “benefits” and impact. They are invariably from “sources” and leaks.
It is also remarkable how the “we’ll all be rooned, said Hanrahan” line mirrors the historical statements of other industries who fought to protect their patch despite the harm to society – such as big tobacco.
The opposition also needs to show leadership on this issue and not just wait for the ALP to eat its own.
Back in 1987, when Victoria was planning to ban cigarette advertising in sport, the director of corporate services at Philip Morris, John Dollisson, said the legislation would be discriminatory – penalising small businesses, smaller sporting bodies, and the million Victorians who chose to smoke.
The industry front organisation the Tobacco Institute of Australia warned that the legislation had put Victoria on the same path as the Soviet Union, Hungary, Romania and East Germany, which had all banned cigarette advertising.
The Outdoor Advertising Association said that by banning all billboard tobacco ads, the jobs of 650 people employed full-time by ad companies would be at risk – as well as scores of contractors in related industries such as printing.
More recently when it was proposed that alcohol products should carry a small warning about the dangers to pregnant women of drinking alcohol, Alcohol Beverages Australia warned it would cost consumers an extra $400 million.
They said it would put so much pressure on the industry’s average yearly earnings, that it would put at risk close to 6,500 jobs that could otherwise have been created.
The warnings on the labels are now in place. We still seem to have an alcohol industry.
Of course, it’s bad enough that these industries profoundly exaggerate the impact of changes. It is on another level altogether when government ministers confuse and conflate issues.
This is the case when the senior Albanese ministers said there was concern that by banning gambling advertising there would be a flight of people going to illegal betting sites.
These illegal sites are not allowed to advertise, so it is hard to understand the logic as no one is talking about banning gambling – just the advertising.
The evidence that this happened after advertising bans overseas is far from convincing. This is another industry furphy that in one instance used research and claims from a gambling sector lobby group.
The government must ignore the cries of disaster from the industry and move strongly to protect the Australian people from the devastating harm gambling causes – especially to our children.
The fact that so many former prime ministers and premiers – on both sides of politics – signed out an open letter calling for a full ban on gambling advertising shows that there is true bipartisan support for this move. Just not by those currently in power.
The opposition also needs to show leadership on this issue and not play politics by just waiting for the ALP to “eat its own” as more and more backbenchers agitate for the full ban – against the government’s current position of a partial prohibition.
The government and the opposition must publicly commit to the swift adoption and implementation of all 31 recommendations of the Murphy report into online gambling.
Only by doing this will they protect Australians – especially a whole generation of children – from future gambling harm.