The NRL Grand Final should be a celebration of sport that unites families across the nation. Instead, it has become a billboard for gambling.

According to the Alliance for Gambling Reform, more Australian children will see betting odds than goals this season. The Alliance points out that children as young as eight can already identify gambling brands, colours, and slogans—a result of relentless marketing that deliberately targets young audiences.

The scale of the problem is staggering. The Alliance highlights that more than 600,000 kids aged 12–17 gambled over $18 million last year. This isn’t harmless fun—it’s the grooming of the next generation by an industry that profits from addiction and broken families.

Enough is enough. As the Alliance has argued, “families are being torn apart, young fans are being set up for a lifetime of harm, and the integrity of our game is being sold off to the highest bidder.”

The Alliance’s campaigning has already made headlines. During the AFL Grand Final, they funded a mobile billboard that circled the MCG and Melbourne CBD for three straight days with a simple, powerful message: Kick gambling ads out of footy.

Martin Thomas, CEO of the Alliance, summed it up well: “We must protect our kids from gambling harm and ensure football remains a game of skill, community, and joy—not a marketing arm for the betting industry.”

Family First agrees. Football should be a field of play, not a playground for gambling. Our kids deserve to enjoy the game without being bombarded by predatory industries seeking lifelong customers.

That’s why Family First supports the Alliance for Gambling Reform in its mission. Governments, sporting codes, and broadcasters must act to ban gambling ads from sport. Families deserve better—and so do our kids.