Gambling ads could still be broadcast during some of the TV programs most popular with children, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s claim that he wants proposed new reforms to protect minors.
The federal government is preparing to introduce legislation to restrict the amount of gambling ads aired and when they can be broadcast.
ABC Investigations understands Communications Minister Michelle Rowland wants to strengthen existing gambling advertising restrictions on what the government calls “children’s programming” when the government releases its policy in the coming weeks.
However, analysis of OzTAM ratings data conducted by ABC Investigations shows that children aged between 10 and 17 watch TV in far greater numbers during evening prime time, compared to the morning and afternoon time slots commonly associated with children’s programming.
OzTAM figures for Mondays from the beginning of the year until October 9 show that the average audience of children aged between 10 and 17 watching free to air television between 7pm and 9pm is over four times higher than it is from 4pm and 5pm.
If sporting events and awards nights are removed, 12 of the 16 highest rating programs for children aged between 10 and 17 are broadcast during the 7pm to 9pm time slot.
Eight of those programs, including Survivor, Gladiators and The Block are rated PG, meaning they are not recommended for children under 15 without parental guidance.
The other four programs, including Married at First Sight and Gogglebox, are rated M and are not recommended for children under 15.
Professor Samantha Thomas, who has been researching gambling advertising and its impact on minors for over a decade, said it’s older children that are most at risk from when it comes to gambling advertising.
“What we know from the 10 to 17 age group is that they have the highest level of awareness and recall and brand loyalty for online gambling advertising,” she said.
Professor Thomas said that if the Albanese government was serious about protecting children, then it would prohibit betting ads from evening time slots.
“That’s when there are big viewing audiences for children and young people, and that’s where the government seems to be reluctant to create a complete ban on gambling ads,” she said.
Professor Samantha Thomas is a gambling researcher at Deakin University. (Supplied: Samantha Thomas)
Ms Rowland would not confirm whether gambling ad restrictions would apply to these top rating programs among children, or others rated PG or M that run in evening slots, but in a statement said:
“Our government takes seriously our responsibility to protect Australians – particularly children and young people – from the harms of online gambling.
“The government continues to engage with stakeholders regarding the recommendations from the online wagering inquiry as we formulate our response.”
Labor backbenchers have previously told the ABC that the government has proposed introducing a limit of two gambling ads per hour on each TV channel until 10pm, and ban the ads in the hour before and after live sport.
Earlier this month, media reports suggested Ms Rowland was considering restrictions on gambling advertising inside stadiums and betting company logos on sporting jerseys.
In September, the prime minister’s comments to parliament suggested he was more concerned with programs aimed at children, rather than those that are popular with children.
“I don’t think there should be any [gambling] advertising aimed at children,” Mr Albanese said.
“I don’t think there should be any [gambling] advertising during G-rated programs and during children’s programs.”
Professor Thomas said his comments were lines she had previously heard from the betting industry.
“The prime minister is merely parroting industry talking points,” she said.
“We hear that very same message from the gambling industry that they don’t target children.
“We know that the gambling industry has a strategy of putting their ads in early evening hours, and we know that children from the ages of 10 to 17 are watching in those hours.”
When the parliamentary inquiry into online gambling harms chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy released its report “You Win Some, You Lose More” last year, it found that gambling advertising is “grooming children and young people to gamble”.
The cross-party committee recognised that gambling ads in evening time slots exposed children to risk, and unanimously recommended that all ads for online gambling be banned from being shown on TV between 6am and 10pm.
The committee acknowledged that older children were the most vulnerable to being what it described as “groomed” by the industry.
“Since most gambling-related attitudes and behaviours are developed during the teenage years, the marketing of gambling to young people has the most potential for harm,” the report said.
The gambling industry spends most of its advertising dollars during evening TV slots – the time when the audience of children aged 10–17 is the largest.
A report released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in December 2023 found that across one year, over 1 million gambling ads were broadcast on free-to-air TV and metropolitan radio – with more than half of those for online betting providers.
The report found that gambling advertising spots peak on free-to-air TV in the evenings – with 22 per cent of those ads running between 7pm and 10pm.
The highest number of ads ran between 9pm and 10pm, when OzTAM data shows the average audience of 10 to 17-year-olds begins to drop off.
However, the OzTAM data also showed that the average audience size of 10 to 17-year-olds was almost twice as high from 9pm to 10pm than between 4pm and 6pm.
The betting industry has been engaged in an intensive lobbying campaign to try and prevent the government from banning gambling advertising during peak time slots that generate substantial revenue at a time when free-to-air television has been struggling.
In a statement, Kai Cantwell, the CEO of Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA), the lobby group that represents five of the top betting agencies, told the ABC:
“Wagering companies have proactively reduced advertising expenditure over the past two years to align with community expectations.”
He said that expenditure on gambling advertising had reduced since the ACMA report was published and claimed it had decreased by “30 per cent year-on-year” from July to September this year.
But that 7pm to 10pm prime time slot remains the most lucrative for TV networks when it comes to gambling advertising.
Not only does the volume of gambling ads increase at this time, but the broadcasters can charge more for each ad-break.
It is unclear what the federal government’s plans to strengthen existing gambling advertising restrictions on what it calls “children’s programming” might mean in practice.
Already the commercial TV industry’s Code of Practice states that, “during programs that are classified G, C and P, gambling ads are not permitted from 6am to 8:30am and 4pm to 7pm.”
News and current affairs programs are exempt from this rule.
The current code states that gambling ads may not be aired before 8:30pm in any program “which is principally directed to children.”
That means a program like Married at First Sight, which is popular with 10 to 17-year-olds, despite being rated M, can run gambling ads under the code because it’s deemed to not be principally directed at children.
“The child audience for a program such as Married at First Sight for example would be well below 10 per cent,” said Bridget Fair, CEO of the lobby group Free TV.
“The audience make-up of a program will determine if it is considered to be directed to children.”
Free TV CEO Bridget Fair says only a small number of children are tuning into programs like Married at First Sight. (ABC News)
Ms Fair said proposals that have been speculated about in media reports, such as a two-ad limit per hour between 5:30am and 10:30pm, and bans during live sport, including an hour either side of the game, will already “have a significant revenue impact on commercial television broadcasters”.
The industry has lobbied the government to remove the Commercial Broadcast Tax, which Free TV estimates costs broadcasters $46 million each year. They see this as going some way towards mitigating the revenue losses from the proposed changes.
Professor Thomas said the current proposals to ban gambling ads don’t go far enough and urged the federal government to follow the findings of the parliamentary committee chaired by Peta Murphy.
“We know from our research that seeing gambling ads creates brand loyalty. It creates huge recall of the different appeal strategies that the gambling industry is using,” she said.
“And we know also that advertising is creating that normalisation of gambling, those pro-gambling attitudes, and for kids we know that is instrumental in making them want to gamble when they’re older.”
The federal government is set to unveil its plan to restrict gambling advertising in the coming weeks.
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