Adelaide United together with Western Sydney Wanderers have joined forces ahead of its upcoming match to promote an extremely important message at Coopers Stadium on Wednesday, 16 March 2022.
The Reds and the South Australian Government announced a three-year partnership focused on tackling sports betting and the associated risks back in November – launching the Here For The Game campaign.
Meanwhile, Western Sydney Wanderers and the New South Wales Government also unveiled a similar partnership in late 2020 with its program named, Reclaim the Game.
Here For The Game will be the matchday partner on Wednesday evening, highlighting the importance and raising awareness for fans to focus on the positive aspects of the sport and reminding them why they love it so much without gambling.
The prevalence of sports betting advertising across society is unfortunately all too common and has the potential to harm families and cause serious financial hardship.
In South Australia alone, losses on sports betting have multiplied over three-fold to $8.25 million from 2005 to 2019.
Both Adelaide United and the Wanderers are committed to disrupting the connection between sports and betting, and will further demonstrate their unity on the issue by posing in front of a banner before kick-off.
The players will again pose in front of the same banner in the reverse fixture on Sunday, 20 March 2022.
Adelaide United Chief Executive Officer, Nathan Kosmina, said: “We believe this conveys a very strong message to not only our fans but also the broader community.
“Both clubs share the same values when it comes to increasing awareness about the potential risks around sports betting, so it made sense to team up with Wanderers to strengthen our collective stance against the saturation of gambling advertising in sport.
“As mentioned Here For The Game will be the matchday partner and this is the first of many initiatives we have arranged with the South Australian Government in tackling the influence of sports betting on society.”
Western Sydney Wanderers Chief Executive Officer, John Tsatsimas, said: “We are very proud to be partnering with Adelaide United for this match to help raise awareness of the harm gambling can cause across Australia.
“We know that gambling affects our communities, and we hope that together we can continue to encourage our members and fans to focus on the game, and not be distracted and exposed to betting promotions.”
