An investigation reveals that advertisements for online gambling platforms are appearing in popular free mobile phone games downloaded through the Apple app store, raising serious concerns about the potential harm these adverts could cause to children.
Children playing some of the most popular free mobile phone games downloaded through the Apple app store are being targeted with advertisements for online gambling platforms. This investigation revealed that adverts for 11 different gambling firms appeared during gameplay in four of the top-ranking 15 free game apps. These games, which have been downloaded millions of times, include titles where children have to park colourful vehicles.
Some of the adverts featured promotions from one of Britain’s leading online gambling sites Unibet, with offers to “bet £10 get £40” and from Tombola, Britain’s biggest bingo site telling young gamers there was “a bingo winner every five seconds”. These adverts could appeal to children as they featured cartoons and animations, as well as funny skit-style videos popular with young people on social media. One of the video adverts shown during gameplay on a popular free app mimicked the style of funny skits popular with young people on social media sites like TikTok. These videos were often required to be watched in order to continue playing the phone game and include claims such as: “We will teach you how to win money fast. Play for ten minutes and win $100 (£80)”. One of the games itself was found to be a gambling app. After downloading, any child that opened the app was asked to tick a box to confirm they were over 18 and instructed to make an account in order to begin placing bets on virtual slot machines. This discovery raises serious concerns about the potential harm these adverts could cause, as research has shown children repeatedly exposed to betting adverts become “primed” to gamble once they hit the legal age to do so. Professor Heather Wardle at the University of Glasgow’s gambling research and policy unit said these adverts are “essentially priming children that gambling is this ordinary, normal leisure activity… People talk about the normalisation of gambling and about what then happens when people become of the legal age to gamble”. She said that those aged between 17 to 21 were also found to be at an “exceptionally high period of risk” for experiencing gambling harms, the academic explained. Tombola and Unibet both launched their own internal investigations and have suspended their relationships with their advertising partners they claim were responsible for placing the adverts. They both say they have a strict policy of never targeting under-18s with their advertising and they have strong procedures in place to ensure their content is only seen by adults. Several cross-party MPs have condemned the adverts exposed by this paper’s investigation, and Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts criticised technology companies for not doing enough. Robert said: “It’s clearly inappropriate for kids to be targeted in this way, and it shows that existing safeguards are not working. We need big tech to step up and do more to protect children online”. Labour MP Beccy Cooper, who sits on the Gambling Reform All Party Parliamentary Group, said: “Attracting people at a young age is unacceptable and detrimental to development and health, but does give them a healthy bottom line.
Business Children's Issues GAMBLING ADS CHILDREN MOBILE GAMES APPLE APP STORE REGULATION ADVERTISING GAMBLING INDUSTRY
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