Personally I like broadcasters displaying odds pre-game. To me it is useful information, as it is the best indication of who is likely to win as you are going to get. Certainly better than the opinions of the so-called experts commentating the game. But I have sympathy the argument that kids will see it, and so if it’s in the greater public good, then sure, get rid of it. That’s how society works.
But beating back sports betting ads to the provinces of normal advertising was not what was being proposed. What was being proposed by the Commonwealth Government was a strict restriction on the number of ads networks were able to sell to gambling companies.
If the Commonwealth Government had dispassionately looked at the evidence and decided that even normal advertising was harmful, and that the public harm resulting from it outweighed the unusual step of banning advertising of a legal product, then again, that’s a perfectly reasonable decision, and I’d be ok with it.
But instead we had a Commonwealth Government trying to pass media ownership reform laws, hastily throwing in a crackdown against gambling ads into legislation in an
attempt to curry favour with a minority party.
The outcome – fewer gambling ads – might be ok, but surely that’s no way to decide policy. The AFL was entitled to point out to the Government that such a step might have financial ramifications for them. It’s the sort of think the Government should have considered, but probably got lost in the rushed political horse-trading.
I’m loathe to use slippery-slope arguments, but supporting capricious policy because you agree with the ends doesn’t lead anywhere good.
