Dear Prime Minister Gillard,
We’re writing to you because we want to see change when it comes to gambling and sport.
We’re writing to you about live odds, about televised betting advertisements, and about punter’s updates.
We’re writing to you because we don’t understand how gambling is allowed in TV programs that are rated PG and are watched by children.
We’re writing to you because we fear that we’re creating a generation that automatically associates sport with gambling.
We’re writing to you because we want it to stop. We’re writing to you because we know you agree AND that you have the power to do something about it.
You said on the ABC’s Q and A program earlier this month that: “I would have to say, as someone who watches sport, it drives me absolutely nuts.”
You said that “Too many of our kids actually view sport through the prism of the odds and the betting, instead of viewing sport as to what is happening on the field and who is doing what and who is exhibiting great skill and who is falling behind.”
You said that you were “very concerned about it”.
Well, so are we.
Australia has the highest rate of gambling in the world. That’s not something to be proud of – that’s something we should be determined to change. Because while many in our community do gamble responsibly, many do not.
According to your own Government’s website, problem gamblers lose on average $21,000 a year, which is a third of the average Australian’s yearly salary.
That’s money flowing out of the pockets of families who need it – families who have electricity bills, school uniforms and petrol to pay for – and into the pockets of bookies.
Problem gambling has the potential to ruin lives. Not just of the problem gambler themselves but of their partner, their parents, their friends and their kids. And yet we are allowing our country’s favourite national pastime – cheering on our team at the footy or cricket – to be taken over by gambling.
That means that those of us who love to watch sport and just want to enjoy a game, are instead being bombarded with live updates on the odds. It means that when our kids turn off the NRL or the AFL on their TV and head outside to kick a footy, the concepts of sport and gambling become intertwined in their vulnerable minds.
The increasing interconnectedness of sport and gambling on our TV screens sends a message to the Australian public – young and old – that you can’t enjoy the game without having a punt.
And that is incredibly dangerous. Not just socially, but economically.
Problem gambling comes at an estimated social cost to Australian society of $4.7 billion a year.
Just think of all the good that money could potentially do.
It could fund a year’s worth of the child care rebate or the new Disability Care scheme. Or, it could fund the first 2 years of your plan for school improvement, with enough left over increase your government’s investment in reducing violence against women 10 fold.
And yet every day we are risking that $4.7 billion figure rising, as gambling further infiltrates the sport on TV that Australians love to watch.
As sports columnist Peter Fitzsimons wrote for Fairfax yesterday:
Sports columnist, Peter FitzsimonsNext Tuesday, the ALP MP for Throsby, Stephen Jones, will put a motion before caucus proposing a bill to remove the ludicrous loophole that allows advertising of gambling on TV during the PG classification period, when the broadcast is to do with sport.
Jones’ preference is that this bill is dealt with as government legislation, not a private member’s bill… The House of Reps has 16 sitting days left this session but the Senate only eight. It is possible.
Ms Gillard, we are writing to you as spectators, as volunteers, as coaches, as players and as parents and our message is simple: Please help us get gambling off our TV screens and away from Australian sport for good.
Kind regards,
The readers of Mamamia.com.au
Top Comments
Not everyone's bright enough to realise the damage they're doing when they drink, or smoke - hence binge/problem drinkers and smokers (which is just plain stupid).
Gambling is addictive, touching all demographics - pokies the less educated and sports gambling, the (usually) well-educated male. Unfortunately, the government and the opposition are unwilling to act with any urgency because the taxes from gambling (like smoking) contribute an enormous sum in revenues.
Sports betting needs to be considered in concert with pokies gambling, which funds the NRL teams in NSW through the clubs - kids are getting the message that the pokies pay for the team to exist and the sports betting is part of watching the game.
Pokies already destroys families, and it's simply not good enough to say the horse has bolted. We need to clean it up at the same time as making sure sports betting doesn't become the problem that pokies are today.
At the risk of sounding like an old woman, I remember when cigarette advertising was still rife. There was some grumbling when that was pulled but the tobacco industry is still afloat today. I suspect it will be the same with the gambling industry.
As one of the few vices I have never indulged in, apart from the odd lotto and Melbourne cup syndicate, I see how normalized gambling is for my kids (gen y) and feel sorry for them. They can't watch a footy game without gambling being shoved in their faces and going to a dedicated nightclub is the only licensed venue they can escape they can escape from the pokies. Live bands were everywhere when I was young, now pokies are.
I say get rid of the sports gambling ads, I don't want my gen z(?) kids to grow up thinking its "normal".