Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Speaker, on behalf of the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, I present the committee's report, incorporating dissenting reports, entitled Fifth report: the advertising and promotion of gambling services in sport: Broadcasting Services Amendment (Advertising for Sports Betting) Bill 2013, together with evidence received by the committee.

It is clear that there is considerable concern in the community about the proliferation of advertising for sports-betting services, and I share that concern. Children in particular are being constantly bombarded with advertising for gambling, just about every time they watch sport, even though the wagering organisations say children are not being directly targeted. Targeted or not, our children sure are being exposed, which is normalising gambling for them and resulting in stories like the one the committee heard about young people now not talking about their team's form but, instead, their team's odds.

The committee welcomed the announcement on 26 May about the so-called ban on live odds. It is a step forward, but I would quickly add that this is one of the areas where I diverge from the committee report, because I believe that the government's move does not go nearly far enough and has come much too late, given the obvious concerns in the community. In fact, from the time of the first announcement about reform in May 2011 to an industry code amendment being in place, it is likely to take over two years, and that is clearly way too long.

The committee's second report concluded that a total ban on the promotion of live odds should be underpinned by legislation. I maintain this position, not least because it was only overwhelming community concern that forced the government to act to ban live odds. This so-called ban is really only the threat of legislation and, in any case, the industry simply cannot be counted on to limit any reform to any more than the minimum that it can get away with. Furthermore, live odds is really only a subset of gambling advertising.

Generic advertising will still be allowed during sports broadcasts during the day, even though the current broadcasting restrictions were developed to ensure that gambling and sports-betting advertisements would not be placed in programs likely to have an audience of children. The research shows that it is difficult for children to clearly distinguish commentators and bookmakers, that children are consuming brand messaging and that the brands are becoming part of the way they talk about sport. In line with the public health approach to gambling, we should not wait for more problems to occur but, instead, we should take a cautious approach, particularly as research shows children are so vulnerable to advertising. To the same end, gambling promotion on the uniforms of senior teams should also be banned. The players are, after all, role models to children and the messages on their jumpers are on the screen all of the time, and the net effect on children is mightily powerful.

More broadly, the association of sport and gambling draws attention to the need to ensure the integrity of sport, so the committee was pleased to learn that a considerable effort is in fact being expended to ensure that the threat to integrity in sport is being addressed before the problem escalates further. In particular, the committee commends the initiatives being implemented by sporting codes in relation to the threats and vulnerabilities identified by the Australian Crime Commission.

The committee was not pleased to hear of the introduction of online gambling on amateur sporting events. For example, there were reports of betting agencies offering live odds on amateur competitions here in Canberra. Clearly, amateur sports are not adequately resourced to address the integrity risks that this brings, so the committee has recommended drawing on the integrity tools and resources being developed by the National Integrity of Sport Unit for professional sporting codes and has recommended resources be, in fact, developed for amateur sport.

In closing, I add that the committee's work on sports betting has been a valuable opportunity to learn about the new forms of gambling, which are growing rapidly. Now is the time to reduce the harm before it becomes unassailable. The committee received 52 submissions and heard from a variety of interested stakeholders. I sincerely thank all of those who contributed. I would also like to thank the committee members for their involvement and the deputy chair in particular during this inquiry. I also thank the secretariat who once again provided invaluable support of the highest standard. I commend the report to the House.

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