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As the new NRL season prepares to kick off with its opening round in Las Vegas, local health and community advocates are raising concerns about the impact of gambling advertising on Australian families, especially children.
The NRL and AFL are increasingly wrapped in gambling sponsorships and ads, a trend experts say is contributing to a worrying rise in teenage gambling. Research commissioned by the Alliance for Gambling Reform shows that almost one million Australian teenagers aged 12–19 gambled in the past year 33.8 per cent of all teenagers spending an estimated $231 million collectively. That’s more teens gambling than playing organised sports such as football, cricket, or soccer.
“Like Big Tobacco before them, the gambling industry knows if they can get kids hooked early, they create a pipeline of customers for life,” said Martin Thomas, CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform. “This is having a real impact on our community kids in Hawkesbury and across Australia are developing unhealthy gambling habits before they even reach adulthood.”
Polls indicate strong public opposition to gambling advertising, with more than 75 per cent of Australians supporting a ban. Even football fans are speaking out: surveys by the AFL Fans Association list gambling ads among the biggest gripes of supporters.
Locally, community leaders warn that exposure to gambling ads in sport is not just an abstract statistic.
“Families in the Hawkesbury are seeing first-hand how easy it is for kids to be influenced by gambling messages during footy games,” said Ayla Chorley, CEO of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education. “It affects kids’ attitudes toward money, risk, and decision-making, and puts young people at serious risk of harm.”
Roy Morgan research shows that gambling rates among young Australians are skyrocketing. By the time young adults reach 18–24, one in five men has already developed a gambling problem.
“Sport should bring communities together, not push our kids toward risky behaviours,” said Thomas. “It’s time the AFL and NRL listened to the public and took action to protect children. Gambling ads have no place in our sport.”
With the new season starting, local advocates are calling on leagues, clubs, and policymakers to put the health of the community before industry profits and take immediate steps to restrict gambling advertising in sport.
