{"id":777008114,"date":"2023-08-11T07:40:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T10:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777008114"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:08:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:08:49","slug":"australia-sportbet-increases-marketing-spend-ahead-of-potential-ads-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-sportbet-increases-marketing-spend-ahead-of-potential-ads-ban","title":{"rendered":"Australia: Sportbet increases marketing spend ahead of potential ads ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sportsbet increased its marketing spend by AU$19m in the first half of 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.-\u00a0Sportsbet<\/strong>, one of the largest sports wagering companies in Australia, has increased its marketing spend while authorities debate the possibility of a ban on gambling ads<\/a>\u00a0in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the financial report from Flutter, the Dublin-based parent company, Sportsbet increased its marketing spend by AU$19m in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year. Flutter said it had a strategic necessity to uphold the company’s market position in Australia due to the competitive nature of the country’s gambling market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to The Guardian, Reverend\u00a0Tim Costello<\/strong>, chief advocate of the\u00a0Alliance for Gambling Reform<\/strong>, claimed that the company was spending big on ads while it could before a ban is introduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201c[Sportsbet] are being utterly irresponsible and that rise alone should destroy their social licence to operate.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, Costello again called for\u00a0a complete ban on gambling ads<\/a>\u00a0arguing that they can influence young people.\u00a0Sportsbet argues that its marketing expenses are seasonally dependent and offer support to the racing and sporting sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs released a report on its\u00a0inquiry into online gambling<\/a> making 31 recommendations<\/strong>. They include a phased ban on all advertisements that direct people to gambling websites and apps. The ban would be introduced over three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sportsbet\u2019s chief executive, Barni Evans, criticised the recommendations. He said: “We believe an approach that significantly reduces the number of ads rather than complete bans would respond to community concerns, while still supporting sport and media.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sportsbet increased its marketing spend by AU$19m in the first half of 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Sportsbet, a Flutter subsidiary, significantly increased its H1 2023 marketing expenditure in Australia by AU$19m, citing competitive market dynamics and strategic necessity. This aggressive spend occurs amidst intense regulatory scrutiny and recommendations from the House of Representatives Standing Committee for a phased ban on gambling advertisements, drawing sharp criticism from anti-gambling advocates. Sportsbet's CEO, Barni Evans, advocates for a reduction in ads rather than a complete ban to support the sporting and media sectors.","focusai_entities":"Sportsbet, Flutter, Reverend Tim Costello, Alliance for Gambling Reform, House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, Barni Evans, The Guardian","focusai_location":"Australia, Dublin","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.85), marketing_crm (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Ad Ban Impact","query":"What is the projected financial impact on Sportsbet's NGR and market share if the proposed three-year phased advertising ban in Australia is fully implemented?"},{"label":"Marketing Strategy Shift","query":"How will Sportsbet and Flutter pivot their customer acquisition and retention strategies in Australia to mitigate the effects of a potential advertising ban, particularly concerning digital channels and affiliate partnerships?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777008114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777008114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777008114"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777008114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777008134,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777008114\/revisions\/777008134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777008114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777008114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777008114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}