The federal governments proposed gambling advertising bill faces a senate enquiry

Ben Willee, Executive Director – Media and Data at Spinach Advertising, talks to Scott Haywood on Money News about the changes to gambling advertising the government is proposing in their bill.

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Money News with Scott Haywood Thursday 2nd July

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Three years after its own inquiry recommended a full ban on gambling advertising, the government has finally introduced its legislation and the reaction from just about every corner of parliament has been that it doesn’t go nearly far enough. The bill now faces a Senate inquiry, but while the political fight plays out, there is a massive money stake for the broadcaster’s streaming platforms and sporting codes, who rely on gambling advertising as a significant and growing source of revenue. Ben Willee is the executive director of Spinach Advertising, he’s on the line tonight. Good friend of Money News, Ben, welcome back to the show.

Oh, great to be here Scott. I’m excited. I’m pumped. We’ve got a lot to talk about.

Firstly, just run us through what are the main changes to gambling advertising the government is proposing in this bill.

Alright, if you cast your mind back to September 2022, there was a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling advertising chaired by the late Peter Murphy. Now, in June 2023, they released a report and it made a whole bunch of recommendations, the biggest one being a face ban of all forms of gambling advertising over three years. Now the Albanese government have got around to drafting legislation restricting gambling ads and they’ve introduced it to parliament. And what the bans basically are is, restricting daytime and early evening television, restricting no school pick up and drop off hours on radio, banning advertisements in stadiums and on player jerseys. And the interesting one, prevent the use of celebrities and influencers, on TV and radio talking about odds. The tricky one, I don’t know how they’re going to do this will also ban online ads for users aged under 18 and require social media platforms to develop an opt out system. So we’re going to get into it now. But the TV stations have a lot to lose.

Yeah, the social media platforms are a whole different language. And I recall when Betfair were banned because I think they were the innovators of doing live scoreboard at the MCG and SCG live odds, and I know they got a speeding fine. But you know, what do you make of the way that the landscape’s looking towards gambling advertising? Because it’s obviously one of the most lucrative streams for Australian broadcasters. And how much is actually at stake for free-to-air television and radio, including this network, across Australia and streaming platforms if this legislation passes.

Well, I might start with the NRL because, you know, they’ve just finalised their new broadcast agreement and it’s worth 700 million a year with Nine and Foxtel. Now it’s not quite the 800 million a year Mr. V’landys was looking for, but it’s more than the AFL’s 642 million. The cynical listeners might draw a parallel between that announcement last week and the timing of introducing this legislation, I’m not suggesting anything, but some might draw that parallel. But Aussie media companies love gambling revenue because it’s a big market. It’s a competitive market and most importantly, they pay a premium to be in sports so they can auction off their really high value sport to the highest bidder of the gambling companies. And those companies are prepared to pay it because they’re making a lot of money. And it’s a great opportunity to grow their, their brands.

I think you’re spot on Ben. And, you know, obviously with the work that you do with Spinach, you know, you would say that sporting codes are so heavily reliant on gambling sponsorship. So what does it mean going forward for sporting codes and media rights for the AFL? You obviously touched on the NRL just then. And what about cricket as well? But where does that money get replaced from?

Well, it’s the smart people in here tell me that, nature abhors a vacuum, and commercial television abhors an unsold ad break. So in states like Victoria at the moment, there’s a lot of extra money coming from the government advertising. So there must be an election coming in Victoria. I can tell you what the TV stations are hoping, they are hoping that 138,000 Chinese car manufacturers that are launching cars here will start advertising like their brand awareness depends on it, and that’s a category and one of a few that TV stations will definitely be hoping starts to fill this vacuum.

I didn’t even think of the Chinese car manufacturers. Not my cup of tea at all, but you’re right? They’ll be hoping the likes of BYD and the others stick their hands in their pocket. But gaming advertising has largely moved online. Celebrities, influencers promoting gambling will be banned. How significant is that part of the market and will it actually make a difference?

Well, with radio theatre of the mind when you use the word influencers, I’m sure our listeners are probably thinking of large lips, botoxed MAFs contestants, but what the government’s really trying to do is, is stop sports people in sports broadcasts talking about odds. That’s what this really is about. And that’ll make a difference. And for the listeners with kids or grandkids, it can be quite jarring watching a sports broadcast together and then watching one of their heroes talk about odds and automatically then you’ve got their young kids talking about gambling. So that I think is a good restriction and it makes sense to most people.

I think you’re right, Ben. Ben Willee, executive director of Spanish Advertising, thank you so much for joining us on this Thursday evening on Money News.

Thanks very much for having me.