Kayo has been hit with a formal warning from the Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) after it found the streaming service breached gambling ad rules in July last year.
During Kayo’s showing of the Fremantle V Collingwood AFL match in May 2022, two spots for a wagering company appeared, contravening the rules that prohibit gambling ads from being shown during sporting events between 5 am and 8.30 pm.
ACMA found that the gambling promotions were streamed on Kayo 5 minutes before play started at 5.20 pm and during scheduled breaks.
“Streaming services need to comply with the rules in the same way traditional television broadcasters do,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.
“Gambling advertising during live sport is a major concern for Australians. Families want to watch live sport without needing to worry that children may come to think of gambling as a part of the game.”
A technical error was to blame for the errant ad placement, rather than anything malicious on Kayo’s part.
Streamotion, a digital B2C streaming and technology business working with Kayo, admitted during ACMA’s investigation said that an “edge case bug” caused the issue.
“Unfortunately, the edge case bug meant that certain viewers who joined the stream of the AFL Game at a particular point in time were not identified as viewing the AFL Game on a live basis, due to a delay in the system identifying the AFL Game as a live sporting event for these users. Although the system subsequently corrected itself, these affected viewers were served gambling promotional content (due to the edge case bug in the system which failed to identify the AFL Game as a live sporting event),” Streamotion explained.
The company also said that while it was “obviously regrettable,” only 5,000 to 7,000 Kayo accounts were incorrectly served the gambling ads.
The wick is certainly being turned up on wagering companies touting their wares in Australia. Recent appearances by Sportsbet and Tabcorp in front of the Standing Committee on Social and Legal Policy inquiry into gambling advertising showed the range of opinions and the complexity of arrangements between free-to-air sports on TV, wagering ads and sports funding.
“To have great content on free-to-air television and television costs money. Television is funded by advertising. Yes, we need to pay attention to community sentiment around wagering advertising but we should also ask the question around what the community wants in free-to-air television,” said Sportsbet’s CEO Barni Evans.
