Australia’s media watchdog has threatened a major broadcaster with a six-figure fine for violating the rules regarding gambling advertising during live sports events.
On Thursday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that it had issued a ‘remedial direction’ to free-to-air commercial broadcaster Nine Network for poorly timed gambling advertisements during online streams of the 2019 National Rugby League’s State of Origin matches.
In 2018, Australia introduced new rules that prohibited gambling ads during live sports broadcasts between 5am and 8:30pm. Gambling ads were to cease five minutes before the start of a scheduled live sports event and couldn’t air until five minutes after the conclusion of a match. The rules, which originally applied only to TV and radio, were later extended to online live-streamed sports.
The ACMA found that Nine’s streaming platform 9Now had aired gambling ads during its State of Origin pre-game coverage. This is allowed under the rules only if the broadcaster informs viewers 24 hours in advance of the kick-off time of a sports event. In this case, Nine failed to inform its viewers far enough in advance.
The ACMA opted to let Nine off with a warning and the promise from Nine that it will lock its staff in a cellar until they can recite the gambling ad rules back to front, and submit two written reports over the next 12 months detailing their suffering. Should the ACMA learn that Nine failed to honor these terms, the broadcaster could be fined up to AU$420k (US$243k).
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said she hoped Nine’s public shaming “sends a message to all streaming services that this is something they need to get right.”
Other markets have adopted or are considering adopting similarly restrictive rules governing the intersection of televised sports and gambling advertising. We can likely expect stories like this to become more common.
