In a previous post I railed against the infiltration of gambling sponsorship into the NRL, and I anecdotally observed that,

Every second team seems to be sponsored by a betting agency.

I must apologise for making such a grossly inaccurate statement – it’s not 50% of the teams, but 87% of the teams sponsored by gambling!

After looking up the sponsors for all 16 teams, it turns out that 13 out of the 16 are sponsored directly by a betting agency, and one other team (Bulldogs) is sponsored by a registered club that generates 71% of its revenue from the pokies and assorted gambling.

For the NRL to say that the influence of gambling on the sport is not a problem, is like being assured by Count Dracula that “loss of inventory” from the blood bank is nothing to be concerned about.

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