Betfair Cause an Aussie Boxing Day Stink!

Anti-betting campaigners in Australia are up in arms at Betfair promoting their online gambling sites on Australian prime time television, fearing the corrupting force of online betting on innocent Australian minors. This comes in the wake of a controversial partnership between Betfair and the CA (Cricket Australia) formerly the Australian Cricket Board which allows Betfair to promote the online betting site through cricket ground sign advertising at domestic and International matches staged through 2008 and 2009. In a reciprocal agreement Befair will receive the ground advertising and in return will promote cricket coverage provided by Nine Network on their online gambling site.

The hoo-hah developed after the Boxing Day Test television coverage, a traditional sporting event for Australian families, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground which was seen by Tim Costello the Head of the leading children’s Christian Aid Charity World Vision and Anti Gambling South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon. The duo have denounced the decision to air the online betting advertising as totally irresponsible and inappropriate due to the social consequences on families of gambling addiction across the globe. Xenophon himself has been calling on the Australian Government to restrict advertising of online gambling services in line with those measures already in place for alcohol and cigarettes, and believes online sports betting sites such as Betfair are likely to encourage a new generation of problem gamblers.

Betfair take the problem of underage and gambling addiction seriously, providing an active ‘Responsible Gambling’ policy. They are committed to promoting responsible online gambling through an extensive set of measures including deposit and loss limits, game timers, online betting self-exclusion options, links to self-help organisations such as GamCare, restriction policies for under age access and also recommend filtering systems provided by NetNanny and CyberPatrol for their many account members.