New South Wales Launches Innovative Response To Problem Gambling

Problem gambling in Australia has long been considered an issue, especially within certain core demographics. So much so, in fact, that recent government proposals have indicated a tightening of controls on legal gambling within the Oceanic country, including measures designed to roll back on the proliferation of online gambling services.

While these proposals have met with staunch criticism from more liberal quarters, they proceed unimpeded, with dramatic consequences for international operators doing business in the Australian market.

But banning certain types of gambling or introducing stoney-faced legislation affecting the majority to tackle minority problems isn’t the only option available to policy makers, as authorities in New South Wales have recognised.

Launching campaigns to encourage responsible gambling are so common now as to be hardly newsworthy in their own right, such as the dedicated cross-industry approach to preaching the virtues of more measured gambling practices. But the New South Wales approach has taken a slightly different tact, designed to appeal specifically to the key demographics most likely to encounter problematic behaviour with their gambling.

The Betiquette campaign has been designed to appeal to young Australian men. Statistics have shown that 90% of sports bettors in Australia are man, with an average age of 31. The design and tenor of the campaign has been devised to appeal to the 18-35 demographic, where by necessity the statistics show the majority of problem gamblers, and potentially vulnerable gamblers lie.

According to NSW’s Minister for Racing Paul Toole, the Betiquette campaign is designed to tackle a “a serious problem in a lighthearted way”, recognising the need to speak to different audiences in a tailored way for the most effective results.

Funding by the Responsible Gambling Fund, which in turn is funded largely by contributions from the gambling industry, will enable the campaign to run a high profile advertising campaign across several different types of media, including social media and online, radio, and during large sporting events across the state.

The campaign is designed to resemble a style guide, urging gamblers to set cash limits, while depicting pictures of them waving off their swim-ready friends as they depart on a party cruise. The campaign also advises players to ‘outsmart their smartphones’, by rejecting constant betting alerts and new bonus notifications, as well as encouraging them to spend more time on their date, rather than their betting results if they want to ‘get lucky’.

There is no doubt a large element of tongue-in-cheek humour running throughout the campaign. However, the hope is that by appealing to the demographic in an interesting, engaging way, the message of responsible gambling will ultimately carry more weight.

The campaign also includes a quiz designed to assess whether players are at particular risk of becoming problem gamblers, as well as providing a checklist and other interactive tools which aim to tackle the problems head on.

Problem gambling is clearly an issue for some gamblers in Australia, and campaigns that go above and beyond the often more straightforward campaigns elsewhere have to be welcomed. The use of humour as an attempt to entertain as well as inform is crucial for capturing the attention of gamblers, many of whom would otherwise find it difficult to engage with the core message the campaign is trying to pursue.

Of course, not everyone is sold on the approach, and some are even pushing for further action at the highest levels of government, which would seek to effectively ban sports betting across Australia as well as table games and video poker.

Laughably, some critics suggest the wholly inadequate and inappropriate American model of regulation should become the aspiration of the Australian authorities, including Tim Costello of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, who said it was “reprehensible to take a light-hearted approach to the deluge of gambling in NSW when sports betting is still illegal in the US.”

Clearly Costello would rather the message of responsible gambling was preached in a less effective way, or perhaps a blanket restriction on Australian citizens enjoying the same freedoms widely enjoyed responsibly by people in much of the rest of the world would represent a progressive step. Others are not so sure.

It remains to be seen whether the Betiquette, for all its novelty value, will go on to silence its critics. One thing remains certain – that by raising awareness of the issues around responsible gambling, as well as providing practical steps players can take to avoid encountering these issues, the authorities in New South Wales are very much helping, rather than hindering, the problem.