The Western Sydney Wanderers continue to work on ensuring that they promote responsible gambling messages by extending their partnership with the non-for-profit organization GambleAware through the 2022/23 season. Earlier this year, the Wanderers agreed to discontinue any gambling partnerships they had in place.
Today, they seem committed to making sure that sports remain safe and free from unhealthy temptations. As part of GambleAware’s “Reclaim the Game,” the Wanderers want to draw consumers’ attention to the normalization of advertising sports betting during events and to alert them to focus on the game rather than gambling.
Mind the Game, Not the Gambling
The club has teamed up with creative company Chisel to produce a variety of YouTube videos and ads that feature soccer players who urge fans to never take gambling at face value and try to resist any appeal the activity might have during events.
Club CEO John Tsatsimas is adamant that this is the correct course for the future of the team, arguing that the Wanderers want to assist with painful issues for the community it represents:
“It is very important to us to continue to build on our relationship with GambleAware as this is an issue that affects a lot of our Western Sydney community.”
Club CEO John Tsatsimas
Tsatsimas hopes to better educate fans to exercise greater caution when interacting with sports gambling products during live events or basing their experience on sports betting entirely. The Wanderers are also the first club from the Australian A-League to team up with GambleAware, giving the organization a boost in a new market.
A Promising Partnership So Far
GambleAware responsible gambling director Natalie Wright has touted the partnership with the Wanderers as successful and added:
“We are thrilled to be working with them for another season, to continue to educate their members, fans, players, staff, and community about the importance of Reclaim the Game and highlighting the risks of gambling.”
GambleAware responsible gambling director Natalie Wright
This year we saw more activity from sports clubs choosing to sever ties with gambling companies in Australia. The Sydney Swans and Macarthur FC both said they would be cutting their ties to existing betting operators as part of an agreement with the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling.