Kids ‘being bombarded with gambling adverts as betting firms splurge millions on finding new customers’
Figures show the industry has spent £1.4 billion on advertising since 2012, with online casinos doubling
their marketing budgets over the past five years
KIDS are being bombarded with record numbers of gambling adverts a shocking new study has revealed.
The surge in popularity of online betting has meant that youngsters are being exposed to never-before-seen levels of commercials promoting a cheeky flutter.
Figures show the industry has spent £1.4 billion on advertising since 2012, with online casinos doubling their marketing budgets over the past five years, reports.
GambleAware's chairwoman, Kate Lampard, wrote in the paper that kids start to watch post watershed TV shortly before their twelfth birthday.
She said: “With the average age at which children start to watch post-watershed TV unsupervised being 11¾, restrictions based on a 9pm watershed may offer little protection.
“We need to balance the array of [commercial gambling] advertising with information about the risks of gambling, and where to get help if it becomes a problem.”
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Additionally bookies are allowed to advertise during pre-watershed live sports events like Premier League games.
On top of that half of the league's teams are also now sponsored by gambling companies.
Online promotion of gambling further exposes youngsters to betting adverts.
Boffins say that children and young people are particularly susceptible to gambling adverts.
Research by the Gambling Commission shows that problem gambling is twice as common among people aged between 16 and 24 than the population as a whole.
Ms Lampard adds: “As a society, we should be concerned about the rising risk of harm from wider access and more regular participation in gambling on future generations, resulting in a possible public health crisis in gambling addiction.”
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