Watching gambling ads is becoming a normal part of watching football for Australian children, a study has found.

Deakin University researchers said children as young as eight are recalling brand names and even promotional offers.

"Children are very easily able to tell you that if you bet on a certain outcome of a game, if your team kicks the first goal but then go on to lose, that they now expect to get money back on those offers," study co-author Associate Professor Samantha Thomas said.

"What that does is it suggests to kids that you can't lose from gambling."

The academic paper found that last year, the gambling industry spent $145 million on promotion, making it the fourth biggest spender in Australian advertising.

A 14-year-old boy told the researchers because it was "everywhere, the ads make you want to bet".

A 10-year-old said: "Every time there is sport on, I'm like, I'm going to bet $5 for the Socceroos to win."

"Children have a very high appeal to advertising, which includes things like humour, and we know that there are certain companies that use humour prolifically within their advertising," Associate Professor Thomas said.

"Three brands in particular were recalled very highly by children in our study — Sportsbet, the TAB and Bet365."

Children 'being influenced' by ads

The researchers said a loophole in advertising rules risks creating a generation of sports fans for whom gambling is normal.

The study considered what children aged 8-16 recall, whether they are at the ground or watching AFL, NRL and soccer on TV.

"So for example, in this setting, we not only have children who can name gambling companies, but also can tell us things like bonus bets, cash back refunds, and the very specific creative factors within the advertisements they see," Associate Professor Thomas said.

The study found that even if children are not deliberately marketed to, they are still exposed to the marketing of adult products.

"That is influencing the way in which they see betting as being a normal part of sport but also is influencing, I guess, the education that they have about these products and how they may use them when they're older," she said.

Calls for 'loophole' to close

The researchers have called for "a significant reduction in amount of marketing children exposed to".

"At the moment, there is a very clear loophole in advertising regulations, which means that ads for gambling products can't be played within G-rated timeslot unless they're within sporting matches," Associate Professor Thomas said.

"In this study, one of main places that children recalled seeing the marketing for betting products was within sporting matches and this shows that this is a particularly influential environment for children in terms of wagering advertising."

The researchers said last month's federal election results could mean change is around the corner.

"I think we have a really great opportunity at the moment with people like Senator Nick Xenophon, Andrew Wilkie and the Greens who are lobbying very, very hard to create some appropriate regulation around this issue," Associate Professor Samantha Thomas.

"We actually have seen very, very little attention paid to this issue by the two major political parties and we're really hoping that the minor parties and the independents can now actually get some shift in this very important issue in within the new Government."

The ABC contacted three major gambling companies but none have yet responded.

The study was published today in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.