MEDIA RELEASE | For Immediate Release
29 May 2023, [MELBOURNE, VIC]
Gambling advertising has been banned from roads, public transport and within 150 metres of schools. These existing bans recognise the potential harms to children, but betting advertising at major sports is still expressly permitted.
On 30 May 2023, Rachel Payne MP fromLegalise Cannabis Victoria will move to amend the Gambling Regulation Bill to extend static advertising rules to ban betting advertising at sporting grounds. The amendments will also clarify that a scoreboard at a ground is part of the static digital advertising to which that ban will apply.
“This is for the 90,000 Victorians attending a blockbuster match at the MCG, and especially for the impressionable and suggestible children in that crowd, that we have a duty to protect. Our kids should love cheering on their team and their sporting heroes – not learning to love the odds”, said Rachel Payne.
These amendments are overwhelmingly supported by the community. A recent poll by the AFL Fans Association found that 79% supported a ban on promotions at stadiums. The survey also found 76% of fans would support a ban on gambling advertisements on television and radio.
“We understand the harmful but often overlooked toll gambling takes on our community. Sadly, such a toll can be measured in terms of lives, in financial losses, in addiction, and in family violence. So, we are suggesting this Parliament act, before more harm is done”, said David Ettershank MP.
A report by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation found that children and young adults now intrinsically associate betting with sport.
Rachel Payne said “We should not be normalising betting as a society. However, sports betting is on the rise and advertising for sports betting during sporting events has reached a point of saturation. You need only watch one game of AFL on TV, to understand just how much betting advertising our children are exposed to – in fact swimming in.”
“Broadcast media may be the domain of the feds, but static advertising is the domain of the state government and they should act now”, said Rachel Payne.
“These amendments will extend the list of sites where betting advertisements are banned to include sporting grounds, principally for the purpose of capturing the MCG and similar venues. They are sensible and in line with community opinion, I see no reason why they would not be supported by all sides of the house”, said Rachel Payne.
Ms Payne is available for interviews on request
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