Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and clicking through  MediaPost Marketing Daily, when I came across this piece by Ray Schultz.

‘The Guardian’ Rejects Gambling Advertising

The Guardian has banned gambling advertising out of concern for the damage done by chronic betting.

“Many people like the occasional bet, but the advent of 24/7 betting apps on smartphones, marketed to the public through billions of pounds and dollars in advertising across all forms of media, has placed high-stakes gambling machines in almost every pocket,” writes Anna Bateson, chief executive, Guardian Media Group.

Bateson continues that “Guardian journalists have reported on the devastating impact of the gambling industry in the UK and Australia, helping to shift the dial and ensure the issue remains high on the public agenda.”

Whaddaya think, Doc – are they smart to put their money where their mouth is?

– Ad Hawk

Dear AH,

Let’s start by recalling this classic formulation from the great press critic A.J. Liebling: “The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money.” So a tip o’ the pixel to The Guardian for valuing principle over principal in this case.

In an Inside The Guardian note, Anna Bateson expanded on the “devastating impact” of the gambling industry,

Problem gambling poses significant risks, leading to financial distress, mental health issues such as depression, and various personal and social problems for many individuals. The costs of problem gambling for individuals, their families, and for wider society, are significant.

Studies highlight a clear correlation between exposure to gambling advertising and increased intentions to engage in regular gambling.

Australia holds the unenviable title of having the highest gambling losses globally. Annually, approximately $25bn (£13bn) is lost to gambling, predominantly by those who can least afford it.

A growing chorus of media analysts and public health officials has been comparing the adverse effects of gambling ads to the damage cigarette advertising previously wrought. (The Doc sang that tune months ago.)

Australian website The Conversation published a post with the headline, “Sport is being used to normalise gambling. We should treat the problem just like smoking.”  Closer to home, Daniel Kaplan at New York Times-owned The Athletic quoted this political Cassandra in a ban-it-or-not piece.

“This is a public health crisis,” said U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., who has introduced a bill to ban sports gambling ads, comparing them to once upon-a-time ubiquitous tobacco spots. “What we’ve done is simply displace Joe Camel with this activity.

“What’s worse is they’ve replaced Joe Camel with celebrity spokespeople.” (Joe was a smoking cartoon camel popular in the ’80s and ’90s in ads for Camel cigarettes.)

According to ad-measurement firm iSpot, national sports gambling TV spots grew from $17.6 million in 2018, the year of the Supreme Court decision, to $278.4 million last year ($110 million in 2023 through April 30). And those figures do not include local TV or other outlets including websites, social media, billboards, radio and podcasts.

(To be sure graf goes here)

To be sure, the New York Times Company itself has a horse in this race, as was disclosed in Kaplan’s piece: “The Athletic, it should be noted, has a sponsor partnership with BetMGM.”

And – what are the odds, eh? – this ad was embedded slightly below that disclaimer.

That brings us to an equally serious problem, namely the emerging triad the Doc has dubbed the Axis of Wheedle: sports books, sports leagues, sports media. Case in point: FanDuel hooked up with the Tennis Channel during this month’s French Open to showcase betting lines before – and during – men’s and women’s singles matches.

A segment of the Tennisverse on Twitter has not taken kindly to that FanDuo.

Get used to it, people. Here’s the current list of FanDuel’s partners.

Multiply that by umpteen sports books, and you have the future: Games = Gambling.

And then, all bets on the integrity of sports are off.