[Greens-Media] Greens Back SA Live Odds Ban

[Franks, Office]

May 21, 2013
RELEASE: Greens Back SA Live Odds Ban
Greens' Gambling spokesperson Tammy Franks says that the Greens support Premier Weatherill's move for a much-needed ban on live odds betting during sports broadcasting.
"Watching sport is supposed to be family-friendly and by banning the promotion of live betting odds on televisions and at sporting grounds, the Government is ensuring that sport continues to be family-friendly into the future," Ms Franks said.
"This is a welcome step towards addressing problem gambling.
"Live odds betting during sports broadcasting has been on the rise for some years, to the point now that live odds and sports betting are everywhere: during ad breaks, on banners in the sporting arenas themselves and even on players' uniforms.
"We know that this explosion in online betting is having a devastating impact, particularly on young men. It's little surprise when they are being courted so aggressively with gambling front and centre of sport, when it should be the footy that is the main game.
"The normalisation of betting on our sporting broadcasts has gone too far and what we're effectively seeing is the grooming of the next generation of problem gamblers.
"Obviously television broadcasters will face some challenges in implementing the new standards, but it's time to put the genie back in the bottle. The experiment is too dangerous to continue.
"Hopefully South Australia's action can pave the way for similar reforms interstate, but if not I commend  Premier Weatherill for his leadership on this issue," she concluded.
The Greens have been actively calling for similar action at a Federal level for some time and Senator Richard Di Natale has a federal Bill that would ban all gambling ads before 9PM and ban the broadcast of live odds during sport and sports related programmes like The Footy Show.

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