As far as change goes, it could have been worse. A left-leaning government delivered a range of new reforms that at first glance, weren’t as draconian as many in racing and wagering feared.
Don’t forget the initial list of recommendations made by the parliamentary inquiry – that included MPs hell bent on killing all kind of gambling advertisements and promotion– would have been far more serious than we saw on Thursday.
The timing of the crackdown gave away the fact that the government was going to disappoint their supporters – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced it hours before the country goes on leave for Easter – typically organisations who want little attention use these dates to announce news they want to gather little attention. It was the perfect time to announce a range of measures his base will probably hate.
The announcements include bans on advertising at sport and on player jumpers, blocking illegal gambling sites plus a ban on cross-promotion that mixes sporting commentary with betting odds.
Then there is a three-ad-per-hour cap on television broadcasts between 6am and 8.30pm, a complete ban during live sport broadcasts in that period and a ban on radio gambling ads during school pick-up and drop-off times.
Advertising using celebrities or sporting stars, odds-style ads targeting viewers would also be banned. How you define a celebrity will be a piece of work in itself.
The most complex, at first look, is banning online gambling advertisements to anyone under 18. How do you police that?
No bookmaker worth their licence wants to promote their product to an underage user, but it’ll take time to work out ways to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Crucially, Betsy understands racing still expects to receive exemptions from some of the new advertising rules. They are important exemptions for the sport and its funding.
But other sports will see change. Bookies and their relationships with sporting stars are now essentially done. Sportsbet have led the way in this regard with engaging content and events, from NBA legend Scottie Pippen and UFC star Alexander Volkanovski. Such deals won’t be able to exist.
Sportsbet, and its cohort of advisers, clearly got early briefings on what changes were going to happen this week when they withdrew their advertisements from stadiums early this week. It was good publicity for them and smart.
They today called on the government to crack down on illegal offshore operators.
“The further restrictions announced by the Government are far‑reaching. Sportsbet recognises changing community sentiment on gambling advertising and has already taken proactive steps, including significantly reducing advertising volumes and removing odds‑style advertising from live sport,’’ a Sportsbet spokesperson said.
‘’We are concerned that overly blunt restrictions risk serious unintended consequences – particularly driving more Australians towards illegal offshore operators that offer no consumer protections, pay no tax and contribute nothing to Australian sport or racing. We would like to see much greater detail from the Government, particularly on how it intends to tackle illegal offshore gambling.”
What is clear, however, is that that the bookies lost the publicity battle to avoid any measures being introduced.
Many still blame Tom Waterhouse all those years ago. Waterhouse saturated TV with the latest odds on just about anything, personally appearing during the NRL telecasts. It was so aggressive and blatant it forced his competitors to catch-up.
It was good business for Waterhouse but it sowed the seeds of discontent. As a father of young kids, you don’t want them watching Jeremy Cameron kick a bag of goals while discussing the odds of him winning another premiership [which of course I took].
The effectiveness of Responsible Wagering Australia too will come into the spotlight. Depending on who you talk to, their ability to shape the conversation on gambling, racing and sport wasn’t effective enough.
Their CEO, Kai Cantwell, said the organisation was “deeply disappointed” by the announcement, describing the changes as “draconian measures”.
“This announcement, with no heads-up and no genuine consultation, is a real kick in the guts for the industry,” he said in a statement.
“This sets a dangerous precedent. Today it’s gambling advertising, tomorrow it’s alcohol, then it’s sugary drinks, fast food, critical minerals and who knows what else comes next.”
A few racing executives were surprised by the venom of this response, in fact some were far less outraged. They accept it’s changes they don’t want but have no choice but to live with, once fearing these measures could have been crippling.
Cantwell may argue there was no genuine consultation, but enough people in power with influence got their points across, Betsy is told, including TV executives and sporting leaders. Their message was heard and some will lose valuable sponsorships from these changes. Without their lobbying, the result for the industry likely would have been worse.
Also, I’m not convinced arguing banning gambling content during school times can necessarily be described as draconian. I’m not arguing all of Thursday’s announcement is necessarily fair, however the language here risks further isolating those who like to punt but want balance.
Going by the response from the Teals and the Greens today, Cantwell’s work isn’t done. They are furious [I’m sure they have a sound financial plan ready to roll if the tax revenue from gambling falls as a result of these changes, not to mention sporting codes funding model facing huge shortfalls] and wanted even more action. Even a Liberal MP called the announcement ”overdue and underwhelming’’.
In an act apparently to help problem gambling, of course poker machines walk through this unscathed, for now. The Sydney Morning Herald reported last week that $1.1 million per hour in NSW alone was been lost on the machines, but they operate largely in the shadows without any publicity. So you can walk into your local pub or club and bet $50 every few seconds, but online gambling and its advertisements become even more heavily regulated.
Moving forward for punters, wagering competitors now can’t rely on advertisements, social media or the internet to advertise or take market share.
They must attract punters through better products, attractive odds and partnerships.
How it impacts our great game remains to be seen.
