Sportsbet urged to remove gambling ads from Snapchat in Australia

Politicians claim Sportsbet promotional filters are available to children.

Australia.- A group of federal politicians has called on Sportsbet to immediately stop its ads on Snapchat to prevent children from seeing them. The operator provides filters for the social media app such as branded microphones that include its logo, turning user-generated content into advertising. Critics note that Snapchat estimates that 80 per cent of 13- to 24-year-olds in Australia use its platform.

Under-18 users cannot access the filters but can see them in other users’ stories. The Sportsbet webpage is not available for under 18s.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and independent MP Kate Chaney, have argued that the filters normalise gambling and could lead to gambling-harm-related issues.

Chaney mentioned a case that made headlines last week when a father reported that a Sportsbet ad appeared on Spotify while his daughter was listening to a Disney song. She said: “If Sportsbet can withdraw ads from Spotify after complaints about playing ads between Bluey songs, there’s absolutely no justification for maintaining ads on Snapchat – they need to go.”

A spokesperson for Sportsbet stated the company regularly reviews advertising methods and that efforts are made to restrict access to its platform for anyone under 18.

There have been calls for a total ban on gambling ads in Australia. The Greens put forward a bill in October after it was reported that the government favoured a limited ban. The Greens plan to reintroduce the bill when parliament resumes in February.