NZ ASA Dismisses Complaint Over TAB Odds in Tribe

New Zealand’s ad standards authority has ruled on the complaints against TAB over its logos and betting odds appearing in the Tribe Live Sports Scores App. The complaint was heard on the 20th of October and the ASA released it on the 5th of November.

Tribe provides live scores for most codes of sport played here in New Zealand as well as overseas. The problem gambling foundation argued that kids at school could use the app to see their rugby scores and be exposed to gambling ads. They highlighted the fact that Tribe is classed as an app suitable for ages 4 and up on Apple’s store and 3 and up on google play.

Entain responded that they don’t display betting odds for any fixture played at a school. As well as this they mentioned a study in 2019 that showed that only 1.7% of tribe users were under the age of 18. Entain stated that they had told the complaints board that odds could be turned off on the apps setting page.

It was determined by the complaints board that the advertising was not directed towards children or young people as per the gambling advertising code. The board also said that if any younger person viewed the TAB logo or odds they would not find it alluring.

How Will Gambling Advertising Change?

Both Labour and National have said that they may look into further restricting gambling advertising in sport before the election on the 7th of November. People have questioned how these restrictions could affect  sporting clubs that rely on gambling companies.

With apps we will have to see where they decide to draw the line. If it were banned on pages with youth footy it would only affect that. We could also see if they restrict who can use the app then our youth footy fans may not see it when they change over to pro games.