Respected anti-gambling advocate Reverend Tim Costello says the AFL is on “borrowed time” as a betting scandal involving one of its current umpires batters its reputation.
Four Melbourne men, including an AFL field umpire, were arrested on Monday after an investigation into dubious betting activity in relation to the code’s prestigious Brownlow Medal.
As well as tarnishing the integrity of the league, the scandal has caused many to question the AFL’s millions of dollars in sports betting sponsorships.
“They have a social licence where they say ‘we’re interested in the community, we give back to the community’ … This is just another chipping away of it,” the chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform said on Thursday.
“They won’t remove sports betting overnight, but they now are on borrowed time because everyone knows it’s unacceptable. And they do too.”
‘Utterly unprincipled’
The AFL reportedly earns between $12 million and $15 million a year from gambling company Sportsbet as part of a five-year sponsorship deal.
In return, the AFL puts Sportsbet front and centre at its major events, from the Brownlow award to the grand final.
It is a reliance that the AFL’s member clubs are increasingly attempting to distance themselves from.
All 10 Victorian AFL clubs have signed with the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and its Love the Game program.
Through this program, they pledge to keep their clubs free of sports betting sponsorships.
Grassroots stakeholders are also attempting to stem football’s pervasive gambling culture, with AFL Victoria and community leagues pledging to do the same.
“Clubs are much more responsible than the AFL,” Mr Costello said.
“Most of the Victorian clubs have got out of pokies, saying it damages the community and causes addiction.
“The AFL has been utterly unprincipled. So this is not the clubs. This is actually the AFL.”
Blurring ethical lines
Technically, the AFL isn’t breaking any laws by the way it promotes gambling. Gambling is legal – for those over the age of 18.
However, Mr Costello said the AFL had a moral responsibility as well as a legal responsibility to the sport’s fans.
“What the AFL has done is literally turn the heroes of kids, their football heroes into, effectively, greyhounds and horses – but worse,” he said.
“There’s not a child today that doesn’t know the logos, the odds, the jingles of sports betting companies, and not a child today that doesn’t think that sport, the AFL and betting go together – that they are the same thing.
“That’s corrupting. A decade ago, let alone a generation ago, adults would never tolerate grooming kids with an adult product. That’s what the AFL is doing.”
‘Full of fury’
Gambling advertising isn’t an issue tied only to sport.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform said a whopping 943 sports betting advertisements ran on Australian free-to-air channels every day, during sports broadcasts and even programs such as MasterChef and The Block.
Spain, Italy and Britain are among the nations that have largely eliminated sports betting advertising from television screens.
In Britain, just 13 sports betting ads air on free-to-air television every week.
Mr Costello said the real momentum wouldn’t come from inside the AFL, or even from its many stakeholders.
Rather, he predicted it will be the “footy mums” and grassroots stakeholders who will spur real change.
“They’re outraged. They’re disgusted … once organised and riled up, I don’t think the AFL will be any match for football mums,” he said.
“They are full of fury about this.”
The New Daily has attempted to contact the AFL for comment.
