21st May, 2013
The display of live odds and betting advertising should be banned during game broadcasts, the Australian Christian Lobby has argued in a submission to TV bodies.
Lyle Shelton, managing director of the ACL, says while proposed changes to the Free TV Australia and the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) codes which would ban live odds promotion during play and by commentators would be welcome, the move doesn”t go far enough.
“ACL would like to see sports commentators prohibited from promoting betting altogether and not just limited to live odds but also preventing advertisements like we see from Tom Waterhouse being aired in ad breaks,” he says.
Mr Shelton says gambling is an issue that affects many Australians and sports gambling in particular "has the potential to encourage sportsmen and women to take bribes and be corrupted".
"Sport would be better off without a gambling industry attached to it,” he says.
Meanwhile, Mr Shelton says the announcement by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today that he now supported same-sex marriage would be "a huge disappointment for Christians".
“Mr Rudd seems intent on burning bridges not only with colleagues, but with a constituency which had long given him the benefit of the doubt,” he says.
“Something is either true and demands our support, or not. The truth doesn”t change with popular opinion, to which he is now saying he seems to be responding.”
– DAVID ADAMS
