Australian reformists slam TV network Nine for reliance on gambling ads
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello calls free-to-air network “shameful” for its lobbying efforts against changes to ad regulations ahead of company’s AGM
Australian TV giant Nine Entertainment has been blasted as “shameful” by Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello over its role in the ongoing gambling ad debate.
The free-to-air network was the subject of a scathing assessment ahead of its annual general meeting (AGM) later this week, with Costello taking aim at Nine’s alleged reliance on gambling adverts.
He later compared gambling ads with banned tobacco advertising before calling on Nine to reassess its position.
Costello is planning to attend the AGM alongside reformed gambler Mark Kempster, who is also a member of the Alliance’s Voices of Lived Experience of Gambling group.
“The evidence shows that every gambling ad is dangerous in luring people, especially children, into gambling. We banned tobacco advertising decades ago. We must ban gambling advertising today,” he argued.
Costello went on to accuse Nine of lobbying members of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government to thwart gambling advertising regulation.
He continued: “It is shameful that Nine executives are actively lobbying the communications minister Michelle Rowland in order to get her to scuttle a parliamentary committee’s recommendation for a full ad ban.”
Kempster, who lost more than A$100,000 (£77,129) to online gambling, explained that he can no longer watch sport aired on Nine because of the amount of gambling adverts shown during sports coverage.
Echoing a similar sentiment to Costello, he declared: “The Nine network should be utterly ashamed of themselves that they are facilitating the gambling industry to continue their predatory, insidious practices.
“The fact they are actively lobbying to continue gambling advertising on TV shows their care more about money and profit than they do about the lives of the Australians they are ruining on a daily basis.”
The Alliance has partnered with activist share trading platform SIX, which uses investor influence to prevent gambling advertising at Australia’s biggest media outfits.
Adam Verwey, CEO and co-founder of SIX, claimed that given the community cost of gambling, it was difficult to argue against the idea of issuing a blanket ban on gambling ads.
Costello also shed light on the Alliance’s plans to campaign for a gambling ads ban “from the inside” – as shareholders of some of the nation’s biggest media companies.
“The media companies are completely out of touch when it comes to gambling ads. Seven out of 10 Australians want gambling advertisements on TV to be banned,” Costello added.
“It’s clear that these big media companies are not going to tackle the scourge of gambling ads until they are forced to.
“We’ve waited too long for governments to act, so now we’re using shareholder power to take action.”
Gambling advertising remains a divisive topic Down Under, with Albanese being accused just last week of failing to show “strong leadership, moral courage and political conviction” by Liberal Party MP Jenny Ware.
Nearly 18 months have passed since the late MP Peta Murphy chaired a parliamentary committee that delivered a report featuring 31 recommendations on how Canberra should tackle gambling-related harm.
Ware claimed that concern over gambling ads among the public was growing, as she wrote in The Guardian Australia: “The proliferation of online advertising has saturated our sports viewing. Young children are now subject to hearing about ‘odds’ rather than commentary about the game.
“Australians are concerned about gambling harm. I have received hundreds of emails from my constituents imploring change to gambling advertising. Other MPs across the country have no doubt received similar pleas.”