Free TV Australia has argued the extent of wagering advertisements on television has been grossly exaggerated by some anti-gambling advocates and the current restrictions are poorly understood by the community. But some gambling experts have criticised the body’s claims, in one instance labelling them a “nonsense”.

In its submission to a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling harm, Free TV Australia argued further restrictions would make “the provisions of sports for free” increasingly difficult.

The committee’s chair, Labor MP Peta Murphy, questioned why broadcasters had identified sports coverage rather than other programming, such as reality television or content produced overseas, as at risk.

The peak body’s chief executive, Bridget Fair, said advertising was “the only source of revenue” for most broadcasters operating in a very competitive market.

“Sports rights are incredibly expensive,” Fair said. “They’re one of the most expensive types of programming that we acquire so obviously that’s going to be harder.”

In September last year, Seven West Media and Foxtel secured the AFL media rights from 2025 to 2031 in a historic deal worth $4.5bn.

The peak body for Australia’s biggest sporting codes made a similar submission to the inquiry, arguing declining advertising revenue from gambling companies would result in less money for grassroots game development.

In recent months, the committee has heard evidence that current restrictions, which ban sports gambling advertisements between 5am and 8.30pm and during live matches, are no longer protecting children from exposure to gambling.

Dr Samantha Thomas, a gambling researcher at Deakin University, told the inquiry that many children can now recite gambling advertisements and identify companies by their brand colours.

“Kids have a huge depth of understanding of these products and we have to remember these products have not been around for very long,” Thomas said. “When we ask kids how they know about this, they talk about the marketing they see.

“They can tell you the specific name of a celebrity that belongs to a particular company, but, most importantly, they can tell you the technical aspects of betting.”

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has also urged the government to consider children’s exposure to gambling, with complaints almost doubling last financial year.

“Assessments about the effectiveness of the gambling advertising rules, particularly for protecting children, should also take into account the changed viewing behaviours of children,” an Acma submission to the inquiry said.

Fair also disputed widely cited analysis by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, which found an average of 948 gambling advertisements were broadcast each day on free-to-air television in the state during 2021. She said the average was instead 195.

Fair said that based on an average viewing time of two or three hours of commercial television a day, people “might see two or three ads a day”.

Charles Livingstone, an associate professor of public health at Monash University, said the claim the extent of ads had been exaggerated was “nonsense and impervious to reason”.

“I would have thought any sports fan watching regularly would not only confirm but perhaps suggest the expert estimation was an underestimate,” Livingstone said.

“Anybody who watches sport on TV regularly knows that the gambling ads are endless, incessant and constitute a bombardment.”

Murphy said the claim from Fair “conflicted with what we have heard from other witnesses”.

“Arguments about how to interpret data aside, what is absolutely clear is that our communities are telling us that they are very concerned that they are experiencing increasing exposure to ads for sports betting,” Murphy said once the inquiry had adjourned.

Many AFL clubs and players, including the Collingwood captain Brodie Grundy, have also criticised the extent of gambling advertisements during sports broadcasts, raising concerns about the impact they are having on children.

SBS also told the inquiry that current restrictions on gambling advertisements were appropriate and in line with community expectations

The broadcaster’s director of corporate affairs, Clare O’Neil, apologised for airing gambling advertisements during Fifa World Cup coverage in breach of advertising rules, blaming human error. “We proactively went back and investigated games that we thought may been subject to the same error and found a couple of other ones that had occurred, which obviously we reported to the regulator,” O’Neil said.