Since the end of March, gambling advertisements have been banned from all live sport broadcasts between 5:00am and 8:30pm, but there is an exception: subscription channels that are deemed to have a low-audience share.

That means American sports broadcaster ESPN, home of the NBA playoffs, is free to broadcast gambling advertisements around the clock.

"Most of the games are played in the morning. That means if your kids are fans of the NBA and are watching the play-offs, they will see ads before 8:30pm," said Samantha Thomas, a gambling expert from Deakin University.

The latest available figures from mid-April suggested ESPN had a national weekly audience of 590,000 — although that is likely to have increased as Australians Ben Simmons and Joe Ingles continue their play-off runs.

"We know that the NBA is massively increasing in popularity. Perhaps the Government didn't think carefully through the fact that sports like the NBA would be playing on these channels," Professor Thomas said.

"The policy that the Government has developed is incredibly inconsistent, in that the Government is prepared to protect the fans of some sporting codes, but not others."

Professor Thomas studies the effects of sports betting advertising on children, and said that 75 per cent of children thought gambling was now a natural part of sport.

"When we ask children why they think gambling is a normal part of sport they generally tell us it's because of the advertising they see during the games," she said.

Betting ads 'indoctrinating' children, Jeff Kennett says
Professor Thomas' concerns coincide with a renewed push from Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett, and former Victorian premier, to ban all sports betting advertising.

"When we have sports betting up there being thrust down the throats of young people on a daily basis, whether it be on television, or radio etc, you are indoctrinating them into a lifestyle … which is very dangerous," he said.

Mr Kennett said sports betting advertisements should be treated the same as other forms of gambling promotion.

"This requires legislation across the board to ensure that all forms of gambling are treated in the same way — and that's not what's happening," he said.
While Mr Kennett was keen to wage a campaign on sports betting, he was less bullish on the club's policy towards poker machines.

According to the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Hawthorn made more than $23 million from pokies in 2016 and 2017 — the most of any AFL club.

A number of clubs have cut poker machines from their business model, and the Hawks have been under pressure to do the same.

"In an ideal world potentially [Hawthorn would get rid of pokies], but we've got to find other sources of revenue, which is what we're working on," Mr Kennett said.

"They are legal and we look after our two venues and our patrons as best we can."

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