The Department of Human Services (DHS) has partnered with the Adelaide United Football Club to tackle harm from sports betting by launching a new campaign challenging gambling’s association with enjoying sporting events.
In a statement, the Department said the pioneering Here For The Game campaign would challenge the normalisation of sports betting and see Adelaide’s own three-time FFA Cup Champions refuse to accept sports betting sponsorship.
The DHS said sports betting had become the State’s fastest-growing form of gambling and the campaign, to grow in a phased approach over coming years, was the first step in a broader prevention initiative.
“Here For The Game reinforces the positive aspects of sport without gambling — like the atmosphere and sense of community,” the Department said.
“It has a focus on reaching young men, who are the most likely to bet on sport, as well as parents, whose behaviour has been shown to influence children’s attitudes.”
DHS said a recent survey of South Australian adults showed 78 per cent of respondents were concerned by how much sports betting advertising children were exposed to, and even more (83 per cent) agreed that betting advertising made children think that gambling on sport was normal.
It said the latest sports betting research found it to be the only gambling activity where participation had steadily increased since 2005; where 32 per cent of the State’s sports bettors gambled at risky levels compared to 27 per cent of poker machine players; that South Australian losses on sports betting multiplied over three-fold to $8.25 million from 2005 to 2019; and that three quarters of youngsters aged eight to 16-year-olds could name at least one sports betting company.
The Department said that as part of October’s Gambling Harm Awareness Week the Office for Problem Gambling had launched the Minimising Gambling Harm in South Australia Investment Plan 2021–26, which set out a path to minimising gambling harm over the next five years.
Further resources, including a guide on how to talk to children about gambling, can be accessed on the Here For The Game website at this PS News link and the 18-page Investment Plan aimed at minimising gambling harm in the State at this link.
