Gambling ads to get better warning messages
Australian TV viewers will soon no longer hear the hastily uttered “gamble responsibly” tagline on gambling ads, as it is replaced with a series of prominent “evidence-based” messages.
Photo: AAP/Darren England
From March 2023, betting companies like Ladbrokes, Sportsbet and TAB must ditch the “gamble responsibly” slogan for seven new and government-approved ones.
“Evidence and research clearly shows the ‘gamble responsibly’ message doesn’t do the job of getting people to think and to minimise harm,” Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said.
“So the new taglines, which were agreed with all state territories and the Commonwealth, are evidence-based and they actually have been shown to work.”
The new mottos include “Chances are you’re about to lose”, “You win some. You lose more”, “What’s gambling really costing you?” and “What are you really gambling with?”
When on screen, they must accompany information about gambling addiction resources and appear in the largest font possible to take up a third of the on-screen space.
If the taglines are spoken, they have to be read slowly and calmly.
Online gambling firms must rotate through each of slogans over a 12-month period to stop viewers becoming acclimatised to a message.
While gambling critics welcome the changes, some want them to go further.
They’re “welcome and a good start to the widespread reform urgently needed”, according to Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie.
“Doing away with the ‘gamble responsibly’ message is appropriate because the problems in the online and sports betting industry are more about the predatory behaviour of that industry than the behaviour of gamblers.
“Of course there are many bigger reforms that remain unaddressed.”
Wilkie is calling for a ban on television gambling ads during G-rated viewing hours and the implementation daily limits on betting companies.
In NSW, parliamentary crossbenchers have pushed for a mandatory cashless gaming card to provide harm reduction benefits for problem gamblers and crackdown on money laundering.
A report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found Australians lost around $25 billion on legal forms of gambling from 2018-2019, one of the biggest per capita losses in the world.
Beyond the financial costs, the report also revealed for every person who experienced problem gambling, up to six people around them were negatively affected.
-with AAP
