An investigation by ACMA found that Seven aired 49 betting promotions during its coverage of the summer Olympic Games in July and August 2021. The promotions were broadcasted on Seven’s Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide broadcasts, as well as on its live stream of the Games.
A separate investigation led by ACMA discovered that Nine aired a gambling advert during the half-time break of the National Rugby League grand final on 3 October 2021, violating the rules introduced in March 2018. These rules banned all gambling adverts during sports event broadcasts on Australian television between 5am and 8.30pm. The ban was extended to streaming services in September of the same year.
Under the rules, gambling adverts can be shown after the 8.30pm watershed but are restricted to defined breaks. For long-form events like the Olympics, broadcasters and streamers are prohibited from showing adverts from five minutes before the start of the first event of the day until 8.30pm. After that, they can show adverts once every two hours.
In response to the findings, Seven and Nine entered court-enforceable undertakings with the ACMA. These undertakings require them to implement systems to prevent future rule violations and provide refresher training for staff responsible for scheduling and broadcasting gambling adverts during sports programming. Both networks are also required to track complaints and responses about gambling advertisements and report back to the ACMA on their training and the effectiveness of their new systems and practices.
Additonally, Seven received a formal warning for its live stream breaches. ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin expressed disappointment in the networks’ failure to meet their responsibilities and address community concerns about excessive exposure to betting promotions. She highlighted the concern that children exposed to these adverts may normalize betting as a part of sport.
