How gambling companies use the grey area of sponsorship and ads to reach World Cup viewers
- Written by: Weekend Times
The FIFA World Cup is a global juggernaut of sport that provides fabulous marketing opportunities for its sponsors.
It is also projected to be the biggest gambling event in history.
And many Australian viewers are struggling to watch the event without encountering gambling advertisements and marketing content, both on television and on social media.
So how is this happening and what can viewers do about it?
Marketing, sponsorship and the World Cup
Bet365 is a sponsor of SBS’ World Cup coverage, so it manages to keep its logo well and truly in view despite gambling advertising bans during live sport in Australia.
This sort of sponsorship has long been a way for unhealthy commodities to elude ad bans, like tobacco companies in Australia in the 1970s.
Read more: How gambling companies are copying the Big Tobacco playbook in Australian sport
Gambling is driven by relentless promotion of wagering operators. This includes ads that are allowed before and after games, including on SBS, the Australian broadcaster.
There has been recent criticism of SBS for showing gambling ads shortly before the Socceroos–Paraguay World Cup match as children in schools around the country tuned in.
An SBS spokesperson said the Bet365 ads complied with Australian laws and regulations.
It’s true SBS’ World Cup coverage conforms to existing restrictions, which requires gambling ads not to be shown from five minutes before the start of a game until five minutes after it ends, during the period of 5am to 8:30pm.
Outside of those times, ads are not permitted during play (they can be shown during breaks) and odds are not permitted during breaks in play.
SBS On Demand users can opt out of gambling advertisements. However, ads cannot be skipped during playback.
Also, there’s a chance young people will see gambling adverts: if you subscribe to a streaming service showing sport, like SBS On Demand, and you’re logged in, the service is unlikely to know how old the viewer is. And of course, most children know how to connect to streaming services.
In Australia, both broadcast and social media will face stricter new gambling regulations from January 1 2027.
These upcoming regulations won’t help anyone during this World Cup.
Is the government doing enough?
Most Australians – 80% according to a recent YouGov poll – want a total ban on gambling ads.
That is what late MP Peta Murphy and colleagues recommended in mid-2023: a straightforward ban.
The recommendations of the Murphy Committee were cross party and unanimous. Politicians across the spectrum want this to be properly addressed.
Partial restrictions can (and will be) circumvented by wagering companies.
Failing to act on such a pressing and growing public health problem is a matter of systemic failure by successive governments.
The harms of gambling are not trivial.
Some practical tips
In the absence of effective systemic reform, what can we do about gambling ads?
SBS allows viewers to opt out of gambling content on its streaming service. Some social media providers and other streaming services also allow users to block gambling ads and there are some apps that may block such ads.
Many critics of the government’s approach ask whether it’s fair to place the onus on viewers and social media users to opt out of gambling ads and marketing.
If you don’t want your kids exposed to gambling ads, there are few options for restricting them on free-to-air media. You can listen to ABC coverage on the radio, which is ad free. You could avoid watching pre-game coverage and then turn off the coverage at 8:30pm, or change channels when an ad comes on.
There is some argument that gambling ads provide an opportunity to speak to kids about gambling harms. Gambler’s Help provides some tips for helping parents reduce the likelihood of gambling harm.
If kids have smartphones or tablets, try to ensure the platforms they use to watch sport have any available settings adjusted to block such advertising. Blocking gambling apps from being downloaded or websites accessed would also be a good idea.
It may be possible to block gambling ads by choice on social media and other live streaming services after January 1: the Australian Communications and Media Authority states streaming services must abide by all the rules that apply to free-to-air broadcasts.
Above all, telling your local federal politician about your concerns would be an excellent idea: a letter, phone call, or conversation may make a difference.
Stronger leadership is needed
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly argued his government doesn’t want to stop people from making a decision to gamble.
Read more: ‘Small and underwhelming’: Albanese’s gambling reforms won’t do much to reduce harm
But nothing recommended by Murphy’s committee would have had that effect, including the ads ban.
Instead, he’s condemned another generation of young people to the ongoing, persistent, and invidious effect of gambling normalisation. Ads and promotions are hugely important to that process, which is why the industry fought to retain them.
If we want to protect children, then getting ads off air and social media would have been a major step.
Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, the Turkish Green Crescent Society, the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand, Monash University and the Public Health Advocacy Centre of Northeastern University Law School. He was a chief investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Lancet Public Health Commission into gambling, and of the World Health Organisation expert group on gambling and gambling harm. He made a submission to and appeared before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm.
