Victorian children are exposed to saturation levels of gambling advertising, with sports-betting companies bombarding TV channels with an average of more than 900 ads a day, according to the official gambling harm adviser.

Children and young adults now intrinsically associate betting with sport, a report by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation warns.

Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Melissa Horne.Credit:Joe Armao

A decision to restrict gambling advertising during live sport from April 2018 triggered a 50 per cent jump in ads in other programs, mostly between 6pm and 10.30pm, said the discussion paper, released last week.

“This indicates that rather than reduce the volume of gambling advertising, the restrictions have led to them being dispersed into general programming,” it said. “The intention to protect children who watch live sport was offset by the increase in gambling ads shown across many other TV programs and during times when children would be watching.”

The findings are expected to place more pressure on the Andrews government as other jurisdictions ramp up calls to clamp down on the gambling industry.

Premier Daniel Andrews said last week he would not stand in the way of a national push for tougher sports-betting ad rules. A federal parliamentary inquiry is due to hand down its findings and recommendations by the middle of the year.

NSW, Queensland and Tasmania have told the inquiry that existing rules are insufficient, while South Australia suggests a total ban on sports-betting ads should be considered.

But Victoria did not make a submission, which the government said was the result of going into caretaker mode before the November election.

Gaming Minister Melissa Horne admitted more could be done to limit the exposure of gambling to children, acknowledging that online gambling had become “fairly normalised”.

Horne said a national approach was the best way forward, but repeatedly declined to say what she thought that approach should be. “As soon as the new federal government was sworn in, I wrote to my federal counterpart to say, we need a national approach to online gambling.”

The report said sports-betting ads had reached “saturation levels” across all media, up 320 per cent to $287.2 million over the 11 years to 2021.

It found that in Victoria, gambling advertising spending was more than three times the spending on alcohol advertising, with about 346,000 free-to-air TV ads. This, it said, equated to an average of 948 gambling ads a day or 39.5 an hour, of which more than half aired between 9am and 8.30pm.

It said while sports programs featured heavily as places for gambling advertising, most programs, “including comedy shows and Marvel movies”, carried multiple ads.

“Sports betting is a normalised concept for young people, including children, across Australia,” the report said.

But Bridget Fair, the chief executive of Free TV Australia – a body that represents television outlets such as Nine Entertainment, which owns this masthead – said the report inflated the true number of advertisements that people saw on commercial television.

“The figure of 948 gambling ads each day can only be reached by adding together six simultaneous broadcasts in six different Victorian advertising submarkets,” she said. “No single person could be watching television in six separate locations.”

She added that any further regulations would impact on the ability of broadcasters to provide free-to-air services.

“Advertising revenue, including from wagering companies, is the source of our ability to invest in trusted news, Australian entertainment and drama programs and live and free sports.”

Samantha Thomas, a professor of public health at Deakin University, said the federal government should be looking at a blanket advertising ban, similar to what was done several years ago for tobacco. She added that the Albanese government should also examine measures to curb social media marketing on platforms such as TikTok.

“We have to take an uncompromising approach when we’re talking about the health and wellbeing of children, and the government should do the same.”

She added there are several paths the state government could take ahead of a federal crackdown. While the Andrews government announced a ban on gambling ads near schools and at train stations back in 2017, exceptions remain for sporting grounds and racecourses.

“At the moment, many of the approaches taken in Victoria are tinkering around the edges.”

Rebecca Jenkinson, from the Australian Institute of Family Studies, said national research she’d conducted had found as many as one in six teenagers aged 16 to 17 had engaged in underage gambling. Of that cohort, about 2 per cent were considered at risk of – or already experiencing – gambling harm.

She added that other research, focused on Victoria, suggested there was a spike in gambling spending during coronavirus lockdowns, and that higher levels of gambling had been sustained.

“The type of harm we’re talking about are impacts on their finances and relationships,” Jenkinson said. “We hear a lot of young people tell us it has impacts on their mental health. It also impacts on their work and study.”

She suggested that parents talk to their children about how realistic they thought gambling ads were, and what else people could do besides gambling if they were feeling stressed, irritable or just wanted to pass the time.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation said the purpose of the recent discussion paper was to allow industry, government and the community to review the available evidence when it came to online gambling.

The spokesperson said the foundation would continue to expand its Love the Game, Not the Odds sporting club program – which partners with basketball, cricket, netball, soccer and AFL clubs – off the back of the report.

The latest annual AFL Fans Association survey found that gambling advertising has overtaken rule changes and umpiring as the most common concern for AFL fans. However, the AFL and NRL have flagged their opposition to any changes to online sports-betting ads, arguing the revenue generated from such ads helps fund grassroots sport.

If you want help for an issue related to gambling, phone Gambler’s Help on 1800 858 858. Under 25s can call Youthline on 1800 262 376.

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