New research urges social media sites to clamp down on esports betting ads
University of Bristol study suggests esports betting marketing and disguised content marketing is four times more likely to appeal to children than adults
Children and young adults are more vulnerable to gambling ads on social media than adults and therefore stricter regulation should be introduced, according to new research conducted by the University of Bristol.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) codes currently prevent operators from targeting minors with gambling ads, yet findings of the study showed disguised gambling marketing and ads for esports betting were nearly four times more appealing to children than adults.
It also revealed that nearly half of the children involved in the study were exposed to such advertising weekly, with around a quarter encountering it daily.
The online survey involved 210 children aged 11 to 17, 222 young people aged 18 to 24 and 221 adults aged 25 to 78 in the UK from May to July last year.
The results revealed that 45.2% of children and 72.4% of young adults saw gambling ads on Twitter at least once a week.
Meanwhile, 25% of minors and more than 37% of young people reported seeing them daily.
“The overwhelming strong appeal of gambling advertising on social media to children is of huge concern, as it is known the earlier people start gambling the more likely it will become habitual and problematic,” said co-lead investigator Dr Raffaello Rossi.
“That’s why there needs to be much stricter and clearer rules in place to clamp down on the issue, which could easily spiral out of control given how long children and young people spend on social media these days.
“Many of the adverts may look entirely innocent and harmless, but they in fact pose a serious risk of getting a whole new generation of gamblers hooked on a serious addiction which has devastating consequences.”
The report suggested one way to combat this issue was by banning esports gambling advertising or to broaden the age range of a ‘young person’ from 16-17 to 16-24.
Social media platforms have also been prompted to only allow gambling ads when users actively opt-in to receive them.
“This new research shines a spotlight on two specific types of gambling adverts: content marketing and esports that are strongly and significantly more appealing to children and young people than to older adults,” said co-lead investigator Agnes Nairn, professor of marketing at the University of Bristol’s School of Management.
“Importantly, the current regulations do not address these types of advertising at all. The esports market is forecast to exceed a billion dollars this year.
“It has an audience of 500 million people, most of them children and young people. The regulations need to be reformed as a matter of urgency,” Nairn added.