Children and gambling – an early Christmas present for the industry

Looking towards a child-free gambling industry

For me, the most important finding from the Research Study is that only 12% of those aged 11-16 have spent their own money on gambling in the past week. This is down from 16% in 2016 and down from 23% in 2011. In the last 5 years (as the graph at the top of this article demonstrates), gambling by children has reduced by almost 50%.

This is on any view a substantial and sustained fall and the Gambling Commission itself states that it “represents a continuation of the longer-term decline.” So, just as journalists were suggesting that there was a growing epidemic of under-aged gambling caused by advertising, the Commission’s formal study shows clearly that the reverse is true. The evidence strongly suggests that the regulatory regime currently in place, and the steps taken by operators is drastically reducing the incidence of gambling among children. The comparative for alcohol consumption among children is 16%

Looking at the type of gambling children engage in, the Research Study concluded that the most common forms of gambling used by children are on commercial premises (6%), fruit machines (4%), private bets with friends (3%) and National Lottery scratch cards (3%). By contrast online gambling represents only 1% of the forms of children gambling. The Research Study states, “The prevalence of young people spending their own money on online gambling in the past week is low.” In short, gambling among children is not only in decline, but the on-line slots games which formed the focus of the ASA/Commission’s letter to the industry are actually the form of gambling which appear to be least attractive to children.

Does the Research Study find that online advertising is currently attracting children to gambling?

The Research Study established that 80% of 11-16 year olds have seen gambling advertising on TV, 70% on social media, 63% on posters/billboards and 66% on other websites (as at December 2017). Presence of materials on operators’ websites is not mentioned.

Furthermore, there are specific questions addressed to the issue of the influences that first cause children to gamble. Advertising is one of them. But it is listed as the 14th most popular reason out of a total 16, being said to have been an influence in 5% of cases. That statistic is to be contrasted with the 20% who said that the main influence was their parents.

Games and gambling

One of the points that I made in my last article was that, however much or little children gamble, we can be certain that they are certainly playing many non-gambling electronic games – from social media games, to tablet and mobile apps and obviously console/PC games. These games provide many different opportunities where gambling or quasi gambling opportunities can exist – whether the games are played competitively and are the subject of betting, or whether there are in game features which allow the player to enjoy a gambling like environment and become familiar with the style, play and anticipation of adult gambling games. To give a single example, the following screen shot is from the popular game “Kitchen Frenzy” produced by Nordcurrent.

“Addictive time management game”, indeed. The game has a PEGI rating of 3 which means that it has been rated as “suitable for all ages”. But this is how one wins extra gold coins in the game:

Suddenly, references to a fun and addictive time management game involving running a café have been replaced with a fully functioning slot machine. Not a hot dog in sight. It seems quite an incongruous situation.

For the first time, the Research Study reported on in-game gambling. Just over one in ten young people (11%) have ever played gambling style social games (which are often free to play and offer no cash prizes), with a large majority of these playing via apps on smartphones or tablets (73%). 11% of 11-16 year olds claim to have personally participated in ‘skins’ betting, that is betting with in-game items when playing computer games and apps. These computer games or apps, which (unlike gambling operators’ homepages) are advertised directly at children giving them the direct opportunity to experience gambling behaviours. For example, games feature ‘loot boxes’ where children are rewarded with treasure chests, bonus cards and random-based events that clearly mimic gambling. The Research Study also demonstrates that, among people who have ever played online gambling-style games, a quarter (25%) had spent their own money on any gambling activity in the past week, significantly higher than the average of 12% among all 11-16 year olds. So there is at least evidence of a correlation between those children who play legal gambling-style games and those who later engage in gambling as children.

New Resolutions

It seems to me that it would be a good idea for this area to be re-examined with fresh eyes. First of all, I think that the main message of the Research Study, namely that gambling among children is not popular, is not growing and is at its lowest level for 5 years, should be highlighted. For once the industry should be entitled to take a bow.

Second, the evidence has shown that the factors that lead to children getting involved in gambling are very much more complicated than the press would have it. It is not about cartoon images Jack and the Beanstalk themed slot machines – in fact it is a more likely to be a much more subtle interplay of the availability of gambling-style games, parental encouragement of (or at least ambivalence to) gambling and the effects of social media.

So if we want effective regulation which will keep the trend line of children gambling heading towards zero, we need to focus attention one where the problems actually may lie – by introducing at least a voluntary code for games available to children so that they do not mimic gambling games. Or at least a change to the PEGI classifications to ensure that games which do contain these sorts of mechanism are automatically given a higher rating.

[1] The Gambling Commission Research ‘Young People and Gambling 2017’ can be found here: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/Statistics-and-research/Levels-of-participation-and-problem-gambling/Young-persons-survey.aspx

[2] Gambling advertising that targets children? Why the recent letter from the Gambling Commission, ASA CAP and RGA to the industry is so regrettable, C. Rohsler, 2 November 2017, Online Gambling Lawyer.