Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 17 Feb 2012.
Veteran anti-gambling campaigner, the Reverend Tim Costello, had an opinion piece in Melbourne’s Herald-Sun on Thursday, arguing that sports betting threatened the future of Australian Rules football, and calling politicians to act decisively and quickly by introducing a ban on all sports betting ads.
The clubs view sports betting sponsorship as easy money to fund the game. But the normalising of sports betting corrodes our sports-loving family and youth culture, and opens the door to corruption on a truly enormous scale.
Rev Costello says we should take a look at the U.S. federal ban on all advertising of sports betting across all team sports from football to basketball, ice hockey and even college games. He says the Americans have got it right: the game must come before gambling, and our federal and state politicians must act decisively before the pressure from the gambling industry grows too strong to withstand.
I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.
NSW Council of Churches 
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