Uncovered Handbrake On Betting Wins Tick Of Approval
RICHIE Benaud will be still be able to tell you it's 2-22 in his inimitable style but like all other sports broadcasters he is facing a ban from telling punters what the odds are on a certain outcome.
The state and federal governments announced yesterday that there would be a ban on the promotion of live odds during commentary and invoked the doyenne of cricket broadcasting to get their message across. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy told the major sports they would be asked to remove gambling promotions from commentaries and scoreboards or it would be banned by legislation if the sports did not meet requirements by June next year. Horse racing is the only sport exempted from the proposed legislation.
"there is a very insidious culture starting to develop, that is targeting the vulnerable and the young as they are attending sporting events; as they are watching on television sporting events," Conroy said. "You won’t need to have Richie Benaud telling you and urging you that here’s the odds on who’s going to get out next, or who is going to bowl the next no ball, and telling you to get online and start betting."
The Coalition of Australian Government’s Select Council on Gambling Reform said that it was worried about the influence of betting on young people.
"Governments are concerned that promotion, including commentary by sporting role models, is becoming insidious in live sports coverage," it said in a communique. "We are concerned that this can significantly influence vulnerable and young people and normalise gambling behaviour."
Nine was angered at the use of Benaud’s name by the minister and pointed out that nobody on the commentary team promotes spot betting.
For the past three years cricket broadcasters have reduced promotions of match odds to three times a day and made it clear it was a separate promotion.
Nine was approached by Cricket Australia three years ago and asked to limit and isolate the promotion of odds from its commentary.
The state and federal ministers announced their intentions to clean up gambling the day after league player Ryan Tandy was charged with match-fixing over a spot-betting plunge in an NRL game last year. At the same time bookmakers have revealed exotic plunges on some defenders kicking the first goal in AFL games after it was leaked to punters that they would begin matches in the forward line.
The heads of most of the football codes and cricket gave in-principle endorsement to the ban yesterday.
Yesterday’s proposal comes on the eve of the Coalition of Major Professional Participation Sports (COMPPS) presenting a paper to Sports Minister mark Arbib about how to eradicate illegal gambling and corruption.
The AFL, cricket, rugby league, soccer and rugby union were all positive to varying degrees about yesterday’s proposals.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said he appreciated the governments’ intentions.
"it is absolutely an issue that this sort of advertising in your face has the potential to get in the heads of young children," he said on radio yesterday.
"And we’ve been very proactive about having some protocol around this advertising and try and do it a bit more sensitively and sensibly."
NRL chief executive David Gallop said he supported the change and had been pushing for the government to put the handbrake on some of the more aggressive aspects of sports betting promotion.
"it was pleasing to hear the minister addressing the issues that we have been raising lately," Gallop said. "It’s a sensible opportunity for the industry to self-regulate in relation to the more aggressive promotional aspects of sports betting."
A Football Federation Australia spokesman gave tacit support.
"FFA notes the review foreshadowed by the COAG Select Council on Gambling Reform and will be actively involved in consultation with the stakeholders," he said.
"in a broader context, FFA will continue to pursue better outcomes for football in the areas of integrity protections and use of football’s IP (intellectual property) in relation to the gaming industry."
An ARU spokesman said: "We will continue to work closely with state and federal governments in relation to sports betting. We look forward to participating in the consultation with the sports and betting industries and the federal government."
Additional reporting: Brent Read, Ray Gatt, Bret Harris
<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/handbrake-on-betting-wins-tick-of-approval/story-e6frg7mf-1226064407713tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/handbrake-on-betting-wins-tick-of-approval/story-e6frg7mf-1226064407713Fri, 27 May 2011 14:34:51 GMT 00:00″>Handbrake on betting wins tick of approval
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