GambleAware has called upon the UK Government to take “urgent action” to combat gambling adverts being seen by young people, describing the current environment as “unacceptable”.
The call-to-action follows two new research papers, commissioned by GambleAware, examining the impact of gambling on young people as well as the appeal of celebrity ambassadors.
In response to its studies, the charity has asked the Government to “catch-up with the digital age” in regards to gambling advertising to make sure that children and young people are protected while they are online, in addition to demanding a review of celebrities being involved in gambling advertising.
‘Encouraging young people to gamble’
The first report – ‘Understanding trends between online gambling content, and gambling attitudes and behaviours among children and young people’ – was conducted by Social Finance and collected data from 634 children and young people within education.
However, GambleAware noted that this report is not representative of the wider population and that its wider project included content analysis of online environments and qualitative interviews with school children.
The Social Finance report discovered that 87% of respondents had seen gambling content online, with 16% having seen content creators and influencers advertise gambling.
In addition, almost one in five respondents said they saw influencers talk about their own gambling, 16% saw creators share sign-up codes and links to operators, while 14% saw influencers share gambling tips.
“Digital technology has transformed how children and young people consume content, with mobile phone ownership widespread and many spending hours daily on social media,” stated Zoë Osmond OBE, CEO of GambleAware.
“Social media platforms and influencers now play a pivotal role in shaping attitudes and behaviours and this research shows that some are playing a part in encouraging young people to gamble.”
Celebrities and gambling
The second report – ‘The Appeal of Celebrity Ambassadors to Children & Young People Aged 11-17’ – was conducted by Sherbert Research and collected data from 2,100 11-17 year olds, is nationally representative of this audience across Great Britain and included qualitative interviews with a subset of 11-17 year olds.
According to this report, 79% of respondents said there needs to be more rules regarding gambling content and advertising on social media, while 78% said under-18s shouldn’t be shown gambling content or advertising.
The report mentioned that 67% of respondents said that famous individuals, celebrities and influencers shouldn’t promote gambling. Many also said celebrities in gambling adverts are likely to make children and young people feel gambling is fun (64%), cool (59%), make them excited to try gambling (57%) and an easy way to make money (56%).
A quarter of respondents said they had thought about spending money on gambling after seeing a celebrity gambling or advertising gambling, while 36% of boys aged 16-17 years old recalled taking part in gambling activities themselves after seeing a celebrity promoting or taking part in gambling, which raises the question of whether a one-size-fits-all approach is the correct response.
Further restrictions needed
As a result of the studies, GambleAware is encouraging regulators to address the issue of gambling advertising on digital platforms that reach young audiences, calling for additional online gambling marketing and content restrictions in the short term while regulations are implemented and to ensure both are within the parameters of incoming cross-departmental safer gambling messaging group recommendations.
The charity is also asking the Advertising Standards Authority to reevaluate its guidelines on celebrity involvement in gambling adverts, in addition to calling for further gambling education and risk awareness campaigns.
“It is unacceptable that children’s environments continue to be flooded with age-restricted content,” added Osmond.
“Consistent exposure to influencer-driven gambling content contributes to the normalisation of gambling amongst school-aged children and we know that early exposure to gambling at a younger age can lead young people to have a higher risk of experiencing gambling harm later in life.
“This research shows children’s desire for increased transparency and regulation of gambling content, and that they want freedom from gambling content online. Urgent action must be taken by the Government to catch up with the digital age.”
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