Victorian Mayor seeks support to stop gambling ads at sport games
A Victorian mayor has asked for the corporation of councils in Australia to support the gambling advertising ban in every local sports match instead of waiting for the intervention of the federal or state government.
The City of Monash’s anti-gambling reform states that sports clubs that continue showing off their gambling sites sponsors’ logos would be prohibited from clubhouses and council grounds. These logos can be found on newsletters, websites, jerseys, and billboards located around the council grounds.
The policy is set to be the first of its kind in the country and is already facing significant opposition from local clubs and gaming venues. These groups revealed that they felt unfairly targeted by the anti-gambling policy, and they may be forced to close down their establishments.
Tina Samardzija, the city mayor, encouraged the local governments to participate in curbing gambling harm. She also talked about the constant gambling exposure minors experienced and dismissed comments that the councils should not have a say in social policy.
“Our community is very concerned about young people being exposed to gambling. In my view, there is nothing that’s more of a local government issue than kids going to play sports at their local clubs and being exposed to a message that gambling is normal,” Samardzija said.
The mayor revealed that clubs have a grace period of four years to adapt to the new policy. For the groups unable to find new backers, the council would reportedly lend a hand in the search.
“Some clubs are more concerned that others and others are more reliant on financial support from gambling venues than others,” Samardzija said.
Between the financial year 2021-2022, an estimated $84.9 million was acquired from local poker machines in the City of Monash. Mulgrave Country Club is one of the most prominent gambling locations in the area. In the previous financial year, the club earned around $7.1 million in gaming revenue.
Mulgrave Country Club is also a nonprofit organization and occasionally sponsors several local sports clubs specializing in netball, junior football, squash, cricket, baseball, and softball activities.
Peter Delaney, the club’s president, spoke up about the gambling ad ban, claiming that several of the sports clubs they sponsored had contacted them inquiring if the annual funding from Mulgrave would be cut.
“We are a nonprofit and only give away our money to local community groups and sporting clubs,” Delaney said.
“Mulgrave Country Club has been contacted by numerous community sporting clubs who are concerned the annual funding they receive from us may cease.”
The City of Monash’s mayor, Samardzija, encouraged gaming venues like Mulgrave to continue funding the community sports clubs but warned that they would get no thanks in return.
“That requirement is there for a reason. It’s there because of the harm they cause to the local community. So it’s something we feel they should continue to do, but it’s certainly not something they should receive sponsorship accolades for,” she said.
A prominent sporting club in Monash revealed that the new reform would result in higher membership fees. A spokesperson for the club also said that it was still trying to recover from the losses brought on by the pandemic after sports was canceled.
“The financial implications of this policy are very concerning for us – like most senior sporting clubs, we have local pubs and clubs as longtime sponsors, contributing considerable sums of money every year,” they said.
“Against this backdrop, we now have council, as our landlord, attempting to dictate who can and cannot sponsor our club – this apparently extends to us simply displaying a pub or club’s logo as recognition in internal communications with members.”
Community Clubs Victoria’s president, Andrew Lloyd, raised concern over why the council has a say in social policy. The gaming venue peak body is set to challenge the policy in a bid to stop it from being used by other councils.
“This is being politicized unfairly and unjustly. What this is doing is actually dividing people, and it’s not good. Council should be leading by example and helping with things, not actually trying to divide people and impose things on them that are really draconian,” the club’s president said.
