The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that it has found a number of operators guilty of breaching the country’s rules on gambling. As reported by the authority, the gambling companies in question used “Fast/Quick Codes” to facilitate in-play betting on sports matches.

Violators, according to the ACMA, included Entain’s Ladbrokes and Neds, bet365 and Sportsbet.

The ACMA reminded companies that in-play betting on sports matches is prohibited under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, save for a few limited exceptions such as placing bets over the phone. However, in order for this exception to apply, a customer needs to provide their bet type, amount and confirmation via the phone call.

According to the ACMA, the aforementioned operators violated this rule by instead providing a Fast/Quick code option to customers. The codes in question embed the event, bet selection and bet type. Thanks to this, customers can just quote the Fast/Quick code to operators over the phone.

The ACMA Did Not Impose Further Sanctions

The ACMA explained that Ladbrokes and Neds, bet365 and Sportsbet all violated Australia’s rules on Fast/Quick Codes.

Ladbrokes and Neds (Entain), bet365 (Hillside) and Sportsbet (Sportsbet) in-play betting services were found to individually generate Fast/Quick Codes for each particular in-play bet when that bet was built by a customer via the service’s website or App – at least for the first customer.

ACMA statement

Australia’s communications regulator concluded that this betting information had been communicated via the website or app, rather than entirely via the phone call. As a result, the exception to the prohibition on in-play betting on sports matches did not apply.

In the wake of the investigation, all three operators in question have taken steps to make their Fast/Quick Codes compliant with the local rules. As a result, companies will only be able to generate such codes prior to the beginning of a sporting event, independent of customers selecting bets. These codes will be generic and the same for all customers, the ACMA added.

The ACMA acknowledged the three gambling companies’ quick reaction and decided not to impose sanctions.

Last month, the ACMA learned that the Seven Network Operations has breached the country’s gambling ad regulations. This was not the company’s first violation either, resulting in a penalty of $13,320.

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Tabcorp, an Australian gambling giant, has unveiled an extension to its digital content agreement with the Flutter-owned gambling company Sportsbet. Under the agreement, Sportsbet will be allowed to broadcast Sky Racing 1 and Sky Racing 2 live on its betting application and official website. Sky will serve as the exclusive provider of the deal.

As announced, the deal has been extended for 10 years, securing Sportsbet’s access to the Sky Racing service for a decade. The terms of the deal are more or less the same. The arrangement is expected to generate between AUD 30 million and 40 million by the end of FY 2024.

The deal comes after, in May, Tabcorp considered a bid for rights for the Melbourne Cup Carnival, one of the biggest racing events in Australia. The move caused some of Tabcorp’s competitors to drop out of the bidding.

One of the Most Significant Deals for Tabcorp

Addressing the current deal, Tabcorp’s managing director and chief executive officer, Adam Rytenskild, said that Sky is “the home of racing.” As such, the broadcaster attracts more bettors than any other channel in Australia and is a “major driver of racing wagering.”

According to Rytenskild, the extension of the deal cements Sky as a leading racing network.

With more than 150,000 races broadcast live around the world every year and the best team in Racing, the extension of this agreement recognizes Sky as one of the best and most valuable racing networks in the world.

Adam Rytenskild, CEO & MD, Tabcorp

The CEO added that the deal is also good news for racing clubs whose meetings will be followed by more people than ever before. He concluded that the agreement will extend one of Tabcrop’s most significant digital revenue streams for another 10 years.

Rytenskild concluded that his company continues to build momentum toward TAB25. The company’s robust pipeline will transform the racing sector with a new app, products and faster market speeds than ever before, the CEO added.

In other news, Sportsbet continues to double down on its marketing efforts in Australia ahead of a looming ban on sports betting ads. The company has invested millions in sports betting advertisements in H1 2023 alone.

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In the past 18 months, Sportsbet, the largest online bookmaker in Australia, has outspent its rivals by more than three to one on television advertising during live sports and racing events. Confidential spending data obtained by the Australian Financial Review has revealed that Sportsbet invested a staggering AUD64 million ($42.7 million) in TV ads, significantly surpassing the amounts spent by Tabcorp and Ladbrokes.

Major Broadcasters Fear Revenue Loss as Australian Government Considers Gambling Ad Ban

A recent parliamentary inquiry in Australia recommended a phased prohibition on gambling ads across TV, radio, and social media platforms. This proposal has raised concerns among major broadcasters, who fear the loss of tens of millions of dollars that currently flow from bookmakers into their coffers, as well as sporting organizations.

According to the data compiled by Nielsen, Tabcorp has spent a mere AUD5 million ($3.3 million) since the initiation of the government’s online gambling inquiry in mid-October. Other prominent competitors have also scaled back their spending on networks such as the Nine Network, Seven Network, and Network Ten, as the inquiry continued into the new year.

The potential ban poses a threat to wagering companies like Sportsbet, as well as the Entain-owned brands Ladbrokes and Neds, which collectively spent AUD37.6 million ($25 million) on TV advertising between January last year and May 2023. Apart from social media platforms, television remains the primary channel for advertising and brand promotion. Consequently, a ban would not only impact market share for the industry’s biggest spenders but also reduce advertising revenue for television networks.

Nielsen Data Reveals Sportsbet’s Multi-Million Dollar Ad Spending

The data from Nielsen illustrates the close connection between sports betting and key racing and sporting events. Sportsbet’s ads predominantly run during the AFL and NRL seasons as the company holds the official partnership rights for both codes. The six-month period from March to September witnessed over AUD32 million ($21.3 million) in ad spending alone.

While Tabcorp drastically decreased its spending with broadcasters, Sportsbet spent AUD16.8 million ($11.2 million) during the spring racing carnival from September to November 2022, surpassing Tabcorp’s total expenditure over an 18-month period. The inquiry period saw all wagering companies reduce their spending significantly compared to the months prior.

Adam Rytenskild, Tabcorp’s CEO, made comments during the inquiry that aligned with the company’s subsequent reduction in ad spending. He stated that Tabcorp would voluntarily cease all free-to-air television advertising during the day by 2024.

Sportsbet’s CEO, Barni Evans, expressed support for several recommendations made by the inquiry but regarded a complete advertising prohibition as a step too far. Evans believes that a significant reduction in the number of ads, rather than a total ban, would address community concerns while still supporting sports and the media. Meanwhile, Sportsbet has been exploring other marketing channels. Recently the company has utilized TikTok to engage with young women and diversify its customer base.

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According to regulators, the ad aired on behalf of Sportsbet, made it look like success in gambling was somehow linked to sexual desirability and attractiveness. The regulator argued that Sportsbet had implied a “link between wagering and sexual success or enhanced attractiveness.”

I’ve Bet Sexy and I Know It

In the ad in question, a man on a couch is staring at his phone. Suddenly, he daydreams about a place where he is dressed up in a slick tuxedo with a beautiful woman on his arm. He is then awarded the “Most Outstanding Same Game Multi,” with the crowd erupting and cheering him on, as he delivers a passionate acceptance speech.

He even thanks the “anytime goal scorers,” a betting slang. According to the Ad Standards panel, this ad violated the established Wagering Code across a number of sections. Sportsbet has riposted and said that the advertisement was meant as a fictional analogy, and not intended to convince sports fans that they would increase their sexual success or desirability by placing winning bets.

Ad Standards disagreed with the defense and argued that the original argument still was true – the man’s sexual attractiveness was “enhanced” one way or the other, and because of what the regulator added the ad made it look like successful betting patterns.

Fictional Analogy Not to Be Taken Literally

Sportsbet has still insisted that the ad did not breach any advertisement rules but has complied with Ad Standards’ request to discontinue the ad temporarily. In the meantime, the company has called on an independent review to assess whether the ruling is indeed fair. The latest move against an advertisement ad in Australia comes at a particularly interesting time in the country.

Presently, Australians are becoming more opposed to gambling advertisements, with an increasing number of customers arguing that they dislike gambling advertisements more than they do seeing ads about tobacco or alcohol. The majority of Australians would be happy to see gambling ads gone.

Other consumer protection measures have been recently introduced, with the suspense of credit cards finally taking shape. The measures have been long overdue according to critics but it’s finally happening to strengthen the Gambling Act 2001.

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7777 gaming is effectively bringing its full portfolio of more than 100 games across both Sportsbet and Bitcasino. The initial launch focuses on 25 of the supplier’s titles, which will be gradually scaled up to cover the full list of games along with future releases.

Strengthening the Portfolio of Cutting-Edge Innovators

Yolo Group is a noteworthy company in the iGaming sector, a ground-breaking innovator, and the operator behind Sportsbet and Bitcasino, the leading iGaming websites. The brands were launched in 2014 and 2016 for Bitcasino and Sportsbet respectively and were part of the vanguard of new, blockchain-focused casino experiences that have evolved and grown to cater to thousands of players globally.

Since then, both brands have increased their footprint and significantly influence the iGaming space demonstrating that crypto technologies can be embedded into the traditional online casino experience safely and reliably with a clear consumer focus. Yolo Group recently secured a partnership with Livespins to further innovate the type of interactive product available in its content library.

7777 gaming account manager Larisa Karaboycheva welcomed the chance to see the supplier’s portfolio hit the ground running with both companies, and outlined what it would mean for both Yolo Group and 7777 in the long run:

We are thrilled to go live in these strong, innovative, and outstanding brands such as Bitcasino and Sportsbet, part of the Yolo Group family. Our games are designed to bring the best experience to the end-user, and we are confident that their players will enjoy them. We are looking forward to extending our portfolio and working together with Yolo Group in the long run.

7777 gaming account manager Larisa Karaboycheva

Although Sportsbet.io is a standalone sports betting platform, the company has expanded into iGaming and has been a known innovator in the betting space too, securing access to esports markets as well as traditional sports. The company teamed up with Oddin.gg to boost its presence in the esports vertical.

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The majority of Australian Football League (AFL) players are unaware that they can opt out from having their images used by AFL’s sports betting partner, Sportsbet, for promotional purposes.

The Majority Has No Idea They Can Opt Out

The deal with Sportsbet brings between AU$12 million ($8.1 million) and AU$13 million ($8.7 million) a year to the league’s coffers, of which 28% is paid to the players. Players also receive a 28% share of all football-related revenue generated by the league and the clubs.

Under AFL rules, players cannot participate in any shape or form in activities encouraging sports betting on games from the league but the league’s sports betting partner can exclusively use their images to promote brand awareness unless they explicitly stated otherwise, The Age reported.

But the majority of them are not aware that they can opt out and not let Sportsbet use their images to promote gambling. Contacted by the media, some of the players expressed certain reservations about the idea of their images being used to promote betting, yet had not expressed that with Sportsbet, effectively letting it use their images.

Ethical Reasons and Past Gambling Problems     

Several high-profile players such as Melbourne’s premiership full-forward goalkicker Ben Brown have refused to allow Sportsbet to use their image and promote betting on the AFL, citing ethical, reputational and even commercial reasons.

In addition to Brown, who opted out for ethical reasons, the media claims there is another high-profile player who also opted out as he was feeling uncomfortable with the idea of his image being associated with gambling activities but wished to remain anonymous.

And these two players are not the only ones who have opted out as according to agents, other players also used the option to restrict the AFL’s wagering partner from using their images citing their own gambling problems in the past.

The percentage of players who have opted this year remains relatively small, in line with the fewer than 4%, or around 30 players out of more than 800, who chose to stop the league’s official wagering partner from making them a passive part of its promotional activities.

Public attitude towards gambling and gambling advertising in particular in Australia is increasingly shifting from being one of indifference to proactively asking for more scrutiny of the increased presence of betting firms in the country’s biggest media and its impact on gambling harm.

Leagues and operators are likely to expect further curbing of gambling advertising as evidence suggests that the current regime is weak.

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