No one can say Australian sport is worse off without tobacco ads. We can protect a new generation of young sports fans from harm by following other nations’ lead – and phasing out gambling ads.
In the 1970s, the Anti-Cancer Council launched a concerted, evidence-based public health campaign to end tobacco advertising – and many of their strategies could be used today on gambling advertising.
Accessing gambling and pornography sites may well get harder in Australia, if plans for mandatory age-verification go ahead. But there are already technical workarounds for determined web users.
Banning offshore gambling sites sounds sensible enough, and the federal government is planning to do this. But to what extent are these sites really ripping off Australian gamblers?
When you engage in recreational gambling, you’re not simply playing against the odds – you’re battling an enemy trained in the art of deceit and subterfuge who uses human nature against you.
For online gamblers, there are many attractions to offshore sights, so governments must focus on arming consumers with better knowledge about its risk.
Online gambling collects a huge amount of data. But instead of personalising offers to keep you hooked, real-time data can be used to prevent problematic gambling behaviour.
Many states are pondering making gambling on sports legal after the US Supreme Court overturned a federal ban. But is the industry really worth as much as some say it is?
Research that studied the pokie risks gamblers were prepared to take after they held a live crocodile has been awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.
There is reason to suggest new reforms, such a banning credit bets and establishing a self-exclusion register, will have some impact in helping to tackle problem gambling online.
No state wants to see its revenue base decline – particularly when the jurisdiction benefiting doesn’t even tax (or regulate) its bookies as well as it might.