Sportsbet makes responsible gambling plea

Sportsbet is calling on friends of gamblers to be on the lookout for signs of irresponsible gambling in a marketing push promoting its self-exclusion Take A Break product.

The Australia-facing Paddy Power-owned brand’s one-month campaign aims to drive community awareness primarily to ensure friends of those that display signs of problem gambling are encouraging them to use the self-service feature to self-exclude themselves for 24 hours or more.

The campaign features two 30-second adverts which will be screened across some of Australia’s most prominent TV channels while the message is also being pushed across digital, social and radio platforms.

Sportsbet marketing director Barni Evans said the campaign was being directed towards the male 18-54 demographic and added that the firm had seen a good take-up of Take A Break since its launch last month.

“We’ve seen an encouraging uptake of Take a Break prior to the campaign,” Evans said. “There’s no doubt the ads will have the impact we’re aiming for and drive the message that wagering should be fun and conducted responsibly,” he added.

The launch of the campaign comes as Australia introduces greater restrictions on gambling advertising in order to protect minors from exposure to gambling-related products.

The amendments to the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice mean operators are no longer able to run commercials during shows that are classified as G or lower and are screened between 6am and 8:30am, and 4pm and 7pm.

Yesterday eGaming Review reported that the Australian state of New South Wales had become the first to prohibit the advertising of in-play betting markets.