Children are being bombarded with gambling adverts in an ‘uncontrolled social experiment on today’s youth’, a Government report has warned.
In a damning review, the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board said nine out of ten young people had been exposed to gambling adverts and marketing on TV and social media.
As a result, gambling risks becoming ‘normalised’ in the minds of many children – with the risk that more are sucked into betting at a young age. Worryingly, gambling is now more popular than ten-pin bowling and skateboarding among children, with more than one in ten under-16s gambling in the previous week.
A report showed 90 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds have been exposed to gambling marketing and advertising
The panel of experts warned ministers and schools should treat the dangers to children from gambling in the same way as they do cyberbullying, pornography and extremism.
Their report makes more than 30 recommendations to limit children’s exposure to gambling adverts and their ability to gamble online. It says:
- Ministers should review the rules allowing 16-year-olds to buy National Lottery scratchcards;
- Lottery scratchcards with themes such as ‘Santa’s Millions’ appear designed to appeal to children;
- Parents are unaware how their children are being exposed to gambling on their phones;
- Children can register with online gambling sites, deposit cash and bet for three days while age verification checks are carried out;
- One in five boys has gambled using tradeable rewards in online video games;
- Ministers should look at the rules allowing children to gamble on fruit machines – but the report stops short of recommending a ban.
The Responsible Gambling Strategy Board advises the Gambling Commission, the government body which regulates the industry. Its report will heap pressure on ministers to look again at the laws on gambling and young people.
It argues that the ‘legal availability of some forms of commercial gambling to under-18s in Great Britain is unusual by international standards’, adding: ‘It has been described as a “historical accident”. We would not recommend it if we were starting from scratch.’
The report comes amid growing concern about the dangers to children of getting hooked on gambling at an early age. Earlier this month the Mail revealed how football pundits including Alan Shearer are paid ambassadors for gambling firms, and use social media to promote betting during the World Cup.
An investigation also found young football fans are being barraged by gambling adverts on TV when they get home from school, with a fifth of those shown during ITV’s coverage devoted to betting firms.
The new report makes more than 30 recommendations to limit children’s exposure to gambling adverts
The report says 90 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds have been exposed to gambling marketing and advertising, including 80 per cent who have seen them on TV and 70 per cent on social media. Astonishingly, 10 per cent of the same age group follow gambling companies on social media.
As a result of the blanket coverage, about one in 50 children have been ‘influenced to gamble because of exposure to advertising’. The report concludes this is an ‘unintended but deeply worrying consequence of advertising’. It adds: ‘Ideally, children and young people should not be exposed to marketing and advertising for gambling at all, let alone in the quantities now prevalent.
‘The potential longer-term effects of what has been a relatively recent phenomenon are unknown. There is good reason to think they might be harmful.
‘By not taking action, we are in danger of inadvertently conducting an uncontrolled social experiment on today’s youth, the outcome of which is uncertain but could be significant.’ The number of gambling ads has soared since Tony Blair relaxed the restrictions on them. Before the 2005 Gambling Act, which came into force in September 2007, the only TV advertising allowed for gambling was for football pools, bingo and the National Lottery.
After deregulation, gaming companies could advertise freely after the 9pm watershed and before it during live sporting events.
Tim Miller, executive director at the Gambling Commission, said: ‘We have a strong commitment to protecting children and young people from the harm gambling can pose – it’s at the heart of how we regulate.
‘The advice helps us to refocus and reinforce what we are doing already, and what we need to do next.’