Pearls and Irritations

So the Australian Government has decided that one way to curb the disastrous level of gambling is to impose restrictions on television advertising during sporting programs. While we might all wish it luck, the saturation advertising of games of chance during football coverage suggests that it is being out-manoeuvred.

There is a yarn about a legendary big gun shearer, who on his day off was sitting by the tank stand with a mate named Blue. They both had basins, cakes of soap and dirty socks. Without needing anyone to tell them to start, each tried to finish washing their socks before the other. The famous shearer was beaten by little more than a second. He then shook his head and said,‘Tell you what Blue. Rub ‘em in the dirt and we’ll go again.” The theme of this story is about the competitive streak in shearers – a trait all Australians share to some degree, even if it simply means trying to outdo one’s own best performance. The story does not laud gambling.

The notion that Australians would bet on two flies crawling up a wall suggests that gambling is part of our culture. So too does the Anzac myth in sanctioning two-up. But these are minor activities in comparison with the approaches of the avaricious gambling companies. And never let it be said that commercial television is reluctant to exploit the things we value in the chase for a buck.

While there has been some lessening of direct advertising of betting agencies during sporting coverage, there are many ads for gambles of a nature designed to seem more benign. While watching some football on Channel 7 recently, I frequently saw banners running along the bottom of the screen suggesting that I should be able to secure cash or prizes in lieu somewhere if I did the right things.

There was an in-house announcement that the nightly quiz program ‘The Chaser’ was to have much higher cash prizes. How easy they made it seem. Anyone participating on the phone or online might indulge a certain greed for easy cash – or soon develop one.

Then Coles ran an advertisement showing a female shopper using the automatic checkout and finding she was bestowed with riches for shopping at that supermarket. The graphics made it appear that the shopper was using a device similar to a poker machine and that her win was a surprise – just luck. The rewards showered upon her.

Perhaps the most insidious advertisement was for a hamburger chain. It suggested that by shopping at Maccas you would be placed in a draw for free merchandise. The reason this one is the most problematic is that the ad features a cartoon character which is obviously intended to appeal to children. Training children to expect windfalls will ensure that as they grow they will continue to seek easy money as a matter of course. Smart advertisers know about subliminal messages, and it is impossible that these commercials are run naively. They know what they are doing.

These ads embed gambling in sport. Love football and you will encounter gambling. It is unlikely that Seven is the only channel to tempt sponsors onto the gambling bandwagon. It is interesting, however, that Seven also covers horse racing and that betting is at least one half of those programs.

When it comes to the issue of online gambling, our governments are novices next to commercial television. The only hope of control is a blanket ban allowing no scope for loopholes. Whether our parliamentarians have the courage to pass such legislation remains to be seen.

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