Cricket Australia accused of gambling with its credibility
Australia’s leading anti-gambling campaigner has called out Cricket Australia and its so-called war against corruption as the fallout from WBBL player Emily Smith’s ban intensifies.
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Cricket Australia has been accused of a major conflict of interest as it launches a war against corruption, while being sponsored by a bookmaker.
All leading sports in the country have connections with betting firms, but a gambling reform body says cricket should hold itself to even greater standards given its major role in Australia’s sporting landscape and sordid history of match-fixing.
Tim Costello, the chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform says the heavy punishment dished out to Hobart Hurricanes WBBL player Emily Smith over a social media prank gone wrong is harder to reconcile while Cricket Australia is at the same time accepting gambling revenue from its prominent partnership with Bet365.
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Cricket Australia doesn’t feel it should be subjected to any more blame than other sports, but admits the promotion of gambling through sport is a “challenging topic”, and one it’s reviewing as it looks to work on solutions which would allow fans to even opt out of being exposed to forms of advertising.
Australian cricket has enforced stricter policies than rivals by banning live in-game betting and not allowing broadcasters to display odds.
But Costello called on cricket to take a leadership role as an influencer of kids and young people by severing its association with gambling.
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“We are deeply concerned about the amount of advertising and influence held by the gambling industry in many sports in Australia. This is especially the case in cricket given the sport is so incredibly dominant in being one of Australia’s national games, with high levels of coverage, especially over the summer,” Costello told The Daily Telegraph.
“… What Emily Smith did in simply posting a team make-up has zero consequences on the game of cricket itself, and was clearly not corrupt. Only the gambling industry has concerns about the potential betting fallout of what she did.
“… Cricket has been notorious for its gambling scandals over the past decade or so.
“… If the organisation was serious about distancing itself from betting scandals, it would not take a single dollar from the gambling industry.
“Instead, we have Bet 365 logos literally lining the boundaries at cricket games.
“Our children cannot help but be exposed to gambling when watching a game of cricket through the overwhelming gambling company signage at games.”
Major sports including Cricket Australia see benefits in linking with gambling agencies in that it helps them monitor and regulate betting on their sport, which would happen whether they had a sponsorship with a bookmaker or not.
Cricket Australia communications executive Karina Keisler said the game was acutely aware of its social responsibilities and willingness to take steps aimed at showing leadership, and drew a categorical distinction between the punishment of Emily Smith and the partnership with Bet365.
“Players are not allowed to directly, nor enable others to, profit from inside knowledge. This is no different to any other organisation in Australia and is entirely unrelated to its commercial partnerships,” said Keisler.
“The promotion of gambling through sport is a challenging topic, one that we are not immune to. We aim to be socially responsible in all that we do while recognising people’s right to make their own choices.
“We are working on solutions that provide cricket fans greater choice of advertising content including the ability to opt out.”
The Alliance for Gambling Reform likens sport’s conflict with gambling advertising to the scourge of tobacco sponsorships in the 1980s, and called on the Cricket Australia board to act on behalf of parents and children.
“These so called “partnership” arrangements between our major sporting codes and gambling companies are especially nefarious,” said Costello.
“Gambling companies deliberately buy access to sports with a family friendly image, such as cricket.
“No sporting code is going to want to go up against a major sponsor, which greatly diminishes the opportunities for sporting codes to do the right thing and actually reduce gambling harm, not increase it.
“Cricket Australia survived the loss of tobacco sponsorship and will survive doing the right thing by ending its association with Bet365.”
Originally published as Cricket Australia accused of gambling with its credibility
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