Triple J Slam Betting Companies Hijacking The Hottest 100

There’s no doubt the triple j Hottest 100 stirs a lot of passion in Australian music fans, but ultimately it’s a no-risk venture. You really hope your predictions are correct and your picks make the top 10, but at the end of the day, it’s just a music poll.

That’s part of what makes the Hottest 100 so much fun. You can argue and philosophise about it all day, but ultimately it’s just music. It’s supposed to be entertainment, something you can discuss and bond over with your mates knowing its not a particularly controversial issue.

That’s largely why we’ve always been so against betting companies effectively infiltrating the Hottest 100 to reap a profit and, more insidiously, put their hooks into young and vulnerable music fans to turn them into loyal customers.

The Hottest 100 is meant to be about music, about reflecting on what we the Australian people think was the best music of the past 12 months. It’s also largely about youth culture, being that triple j is Australia’s national youth broadcaster.

Simply put, the Hottest 100 and betting companies just don’t mix. But that hasn’t stopped outlets like Sportsbet, Ladbrokes, Tom Waterhouse, and Palmerbet from offering odds on the Hottest 100, and in the case of one betting company, even attempting to derail the poll.

We’ve previously written about how much we’d like betting companies to just stay the hell away from the Hottest 100, but now triple j has finally made a comment on the issue. It comes as little surprise, since the bookies seem to be making it a larger focus each year.

Speaking to triple j’s Hack, station manager Chris Scaddan said triple j doesn’t support betting on the Hottest 100, noting that it’s particularly concerning bookies are targeting triple j listeners, who are predominantly young people.

“It is concerning that gambling companies are aiming directly at triple j listeners,” Scaddan told Hack host Tom Tilley. “We cater to a young audience, an audience that is at a very vulnerable point of their lives financially.”

“We don’t encourage people to bet on the Hottest 100. If you’ve got some spare money, you should donate it to our partner charity, the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience,” Scaddan continued.

“We can guarantee you that that will go to a positive cause. It’ll make you feel better about yourself than betting on the Hottest 100 will.” Scaddan also elaborated on the disturbing way that betting companies are targeting young people.

“When you’re young and new to having credit, you don’t have big pockets or big financial resources,” Scaddan said. “You could find yourself in a lot of financial trouble really early on in your life.”

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“Ultimately you’re giving the betting company your money. That’s all they’re interested in. They want your money, they want you signed up to their app. We think the majority of triple j listeners are smart enough to see through campaigns like this.”

According to Serge Sardo of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, about 20 percent of people with a gambling problem started gambling before turning 18. “So what we know is, the younger start gambling, the more likely you are to develop problems with gambling,” he told Hack.

However, popular online bookie Sportsbet insisted they don’t target anyone under 18 with their promotions and said they are “not aware of any evidence that indicates the availability of promotional offers to customers encourages or has increased the prevalence of problem gambling”.

To make matters worse, the Australian media is often complicit in promoting this kind of gambling, running numerous stories about Hottest 100 odds, acting as free advertising for the online bookies and drawing further attention to their disturbing campaigns.

If you’re struggling with a gambling problem, talk to someone on 1800 858 858 or chat to someone online here.