Several federal politicians have urged Sportsbet to “immediately” pull its ads from the social media app Snapchat after Guardian Australia reported that they can be viewed by children.
Sportsbet provides Snapchat users with filters that can alter their appearance and add effects to the content they share with friends. These filters splash the bookmaker’s logo and transform users into advertising content, such as a racehorse with a Sportsbet-themed rosette or a presenter with a branded microphone.
The filters encourage Snapchat users – which include about 80% of 13- to 24-year-olds in Australia – to create gambling accounts and direct people to the Sportsbet website. Critics believe the filters normalise gambling and boost brand awareness among young people.
While the filters cannot be accessed by under-18 users, they can be viewed by children who are sent videos by older friends or other users. They can also view them on other people’s stories.
The link to the Sportsbet page is disabled for under-18 accounts.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who called on the federal government to ban all gambling ads as recommended by a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry 18 months ago, said Snap Inc – the owner of Snapchat – and Sportsbet “should pull these ads down immediately today”.
“Snapchat is clearly a platform for young people and these ads have no place on there,” Hanson-Young said. “This doesn’t just affect young people: Australians lose more per capita to gambling than any other country.”
The independent MP Kate Chaney, who was a member of the parliamentary inquiry, said it was “deeply concerning that gambling ads continue to reach children on platforms like Snapchat, despite claims of age restrictions”.
“This is appalling,” Chaney said. “Gambling companies know that early exposure normalises their products and creates a pipeline of future customers.
“By targeting younger audiences – intentionally or through inadequate safeguards – they’re fostering familiarity and brand loyalty before children can critically evaluate the risks of gambling.”
A Sportsbet spokesperson said: “We continually review our approaches to advertising, as we do with all elements of our business operations.
“We take all reasonable steps to ensure our content reaches adult audiences, including restricting anyone under 18 from clicking on a Snapchat image through to the Sportsbet app.”
Last week Sportsbet paused its advertising on the music streaming platform Spotify after a father complained about ads allegedly playing between Disney songs. The bookmaker said it was “disappointed this happened”.
“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,” Chaney said.
“We need immediate action to pull these ads from Snapchat and any platform where children are active.”
The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the federal government needed to “get these ads out of action” to “protect young adult men” and “not introduce kids to the concept of gambling”.
“Not only are they exposing kids to the concept of online gambling, but by gamifying [the ads] and making them interactive, there is an additional level of risk and harm there,” McMullen said. “This isn’t a game.”
The Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie, a long-term campaigner for gambling reform, said the filters were inappropriate and should be pulled.
“Gambling ads groom our children to normalise and engage in gambling behaviours, at the risk of future gambling addiction,” Wilkie said.
A fellow crossbencher, Monique Ryan, who was a paediatric neurologist before entering parliament, said the ads should be removed “as a matter of urgency”.
“It is simply not appropriate to allow this harmful industry to target our young people in an extremely vulnerable stage in their lives,” Ryan said. “I am appalled that we continue to expose our children to gambling advertising online and in the mainstream media, putting them at risk of developing lifelong gambling problems.”
Snap Inc was contacted for comment. A spokesperson previously said its “advertising policies restrict ads based on users’ age for certain regulated categories, including gambling, which must be targeted to users aged 18-plus in Australia”.
