According to statistics gathered by Ofcom, since the passage of the 2005 Gambling Act, television gambling ads have grown by 1,443 percent. The eight-year-old law allowed gambling operators to advertise widely on TV, for the first time, and sponsor sporting events. In 2005, there were approximately 90,000 but this figure has grown to over 1.38 million by 2012, which was an increase of 14-fold. Last year, over one third of the advertisements were for bingo at 38.3 percent, 29.6 percent were for online casino and poker, while lottery and scratch card ads accounted for 25.6 percent of total television gambling…

From Australian Broadcasting Corporation WATCH VIDEO HERE Australians no longer accept tobacco advertising in any shape or form, now public health advocates say gambling ads should also be banned because of the harm they cause. The Federal Government has proposed a total ban on live odds during play and limited bans on general gambling ads during matches to reduce the intensity of betting company marketing. But just as tobacco companies were once accused of targeting teenagers to get them addicted to their product, Australian researchers believe gambling firms are just as voraciously targeting young people today. FULL STORY