Seven has been fined by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for showing gambling adverts outside of the designated hours.
An ACMA investigation found that a gambling advert was shown at around 10:38am on 7Plus during the livestreaming of an AFL American Football game on 12 December 2022.
Regulation stipulates that gambling promotions can’t be shown during live streams of sporting events between 5am and 8:30pm, including 5 minutes before the event.
According to reports, Seven had a similar breach in October 2022, for which the ACMA offered it a warning.
As a result of the advertisement, Seven was fined $13,320 – which is the maximum fine that the ACMA is allowed to impose for this kind of breach.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the Australian public is is concerned about their exposure to gambling ads.
“The ACMA expects broadcasters to have robust systems and processes and associated assurance mechanisms in place to support compliance with these laws,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“Seven has told us that the measures it has in place are adequate to ensure future compliance and it does not need to do more. Following repeated breaches by Seven, we will continue to closely monitor their compliance with the rules to make sure that is the case,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
A Seven spokesperson said “this relates to an isolated instance of human error and was only streamed to a very small number of end users. Seven strictly adheres to all regulations.”
