The Australian gambling agency Sportsbet has paused advertising with the music streaming company Spotify, after its content was allegedly played between children’s songs.
The pause comes after Guardian Australia reported on a complaint by a father who alleged the “potentially damaging” ads were inserted between Disney songs.
“I love Spotify and completely understand your need to generate income,” the father’s complaint said. “However, playing Sportsbet’s ads before and after Disney songs is inappropriate and potentially damaging to my children.
“My kids love Disney and frequently listen to Moana, Frozen and other songs [including] the Wiggles and Bluey songs probably not associated nor the first choice for punters.”
The father, who declined to be named, was using his own Spotify account to play songs to his children. The streaming service ensures gambling ads are only played to account holders aged 18 and older. But Sportsbet has raised concerns about their alleged proximity to children’s songs.
“Sportsbet’s advertising on Spotify and all social media channels uses age gating measures, and excludes kids and family content as an additional control,” a Sportsbet spokesperson said.
“We are disappointed this has happened and have paused advertising on Spotify while the issue is rectified.”
Spotify has been contacted for comment.
The father’s complaint called on Spotify to introduce an opt-out of gambling ads option for free users. He also cited the federal government’s ban on under-16 social media use.
“Perhaps the renewed focus of Australian parents on the behaviour of technology companies further encourages your investment in an opt-out feature,” he wrote. “Children are highly impressionable, exposure to gambling ads normalises and conditions them to gambling.”
His complaint has been seized upon by politicians and public health experts who have been urging the federal government to introduce a phased but total ban on gambling ads, as recommended by a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry in June 2023.
The independent Australian Capital Territory senator David Pocock, who was contacted by the father about his complaint, said the case highlighted the need for a ban on gambling ads.
“Platforms like Spotify can pretend all they want that they don’t allow this to happen, but clearly it is happening,” Pocock said.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, had flagged a statement in response to the Murphy report by the end of the year. Last week her office apologised to people harmed by the gambling industry for the delay and acknowledged their frustration.
“As we have seen in the past bad policy designs leads to bad outcomes,” Rowland said last week. “It is important we take the time to get these reforms right.”
But Pocock said the federal government had waited long enough and urged it to introduce legislation to ban gambling ads early next year, before an election is called.
A survey of 455 parents, published by Australian academics in the journal Health Promotion International, has found 70% were either slightly (12.7%), somewhat (11.2%), moderately (18.2%), or extremely concerned (27.7%).
Samantha Thomas, a professor of public health at Deakin University, who contributed to the study, said parents were “rightfully concerned about the multiple ways in which children could be exposed to gambling advertising”.
“The only way to ensure that children are protected as much as possible from being reached by these insidious marketing tactics is to implement a complete tobacco-style ban on gambling advertising across multiple platforms,” Thomas said.
