Poker machines aren’t the only controversial form of gambling in Australia. This year, local residents have taken up arms against the sportsbetting market, outraged at the relentless presence of betting ads during sports matches. This year, Tom Waterhouse assumed the role as a commentator during Channel Nine rugby matches.
Viewers were displeased that the bookmaker was being disguised as a sports expert, so he was given his own segments in which he would be able to provide live odds information – but that was not good enough for spectators. The federal government has recently cracked down on the amount of advertising that gambling firms are allowed to broadcast during televised sports.
Since then, Channel 9 has been working hard to comply with these new guidelines, and Tom Waterhouse is also willing to meet these terms. Starting next Friday, Tom Waterhouse will be scaling back on his Channel Nine appearances. Originally, he wanted a televised role during rugby matches to keep his company relevant and market his services.
However, he did not realize how upset this was going to make the rugby viewing public. Now that he has been protested and picketed, Waterhouse is ready to scale back. "I've got to compete against these overseas big boys and try and keep my name out there," he says. "At the same time I don't want to be doing it in a way that gets people upset and rubs them up the wrong way."
There is no word yet on how Waterhouse’s appearances will be carried out in the future. We are interested to see how his segments will be broadcast in such a way that he is not outwardly promoting sports betting during live rugby.
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