Gambling advertising monitored closely

[STT]

Not like kids could get their hands on a huge sum of money anyway.

Certainly they can, thats the danger that it encourages theft and use of credit cards belonging to family left unattended.   Happens all the time in fact and in some cases the money is reversed as its basically fraud and easily arguable as poor practise for any company to be involved with.   Its not just gambling that has this issue but any app or game on phone its frequently found that encouragement to win the game via buying items that give the points is a common gameplay feature which is exploitive basically.    I can understand why counter measures are taken and hopefully even though we deal with crypto not credit cards its avoided here also.

[acroman08]

Not like kids could get their hands on a huge sum of money anyway. But I get what they were concerned about. Though personally, I think they are barking at the wrong tree on this one. They should regulate gambling ads to explicitly mention the downsides of gambling and not be on sites that aren't made for gambling. You know what I'm saying?
-snip

oh, but they can. there have been cases in my country where a kid is able to use a debit card, a credit card or other types of e-wallet to buy things online. these cards can be used to deposit on an online gambling site. so yes, kids these days can get their hands on huge sum of money and they can use it to deposit on an online gambling site

also, check this post from quora https://www.quora.com/My-son-deposited-my-money-to-gambling-site-big-amount-of-money-I-asked-for-a-full-refund-they-said-that-they-will-investigate-Will-they-refund-me

[plvbob0070]

here's another screenshot of the game
https://www.casino.org/news/dangerously-cute-uk-advertising-watchdog-bans-fluffy-favorites-ad/

Have not seen the second picture you shared but by just looking at how the game looks, it is obviously appealing to children. If kids saw this, without knowing that it's gambling, they would probably try accessing the game since there's so much adorable stuff that they would like on this game. Plus the fact that they advertise it on Facebook where kids nowadays have their own account and they might think it's just a simple game. Personally, if I did not know that this is for gambling, I would think that they target to attract children to play the game. We can't blame those who made a report about this because it's really not a good choice of images.

If you are an adult playing on a slot and these images pop up I don't think it will appeal to you, the owner of that gambling site is thinking of what the children will like when they used these images, it's obviously for children and there's no defense for this, 100% of those who will see this will conclude that it's targeting young people.

I've read the article from the second screenshot I shared. the gambling site said to ASA that reason for the cute design as they were appealing to women of age 18-65 but I think the design is a little too cute or kid-like and I agree with ASA that the design actually is a little irresponsible on the gambling site's side.

Do they think that majority of women ages 18-65 would be attracted to cute stuff? They are not kids anymore to fall for baby stuffed animals. Does their team did not study it further before deciding on the design they will use? It would be understandable if they used lighter colors or something if they are trying to appeal to women of those ages. Aiming for the cute concept is fine, but the designs are just too much and not appropriate for their target customers.

[finaleshot2016]

here's another screenshot of the game
https://www.casino.org/news/dangerously-cute-uk-advertising-watchdog-bans-fluffy-favorites-ad/

Have not seen the second picture you shared but by just looking at how the game looks, it is obviously appealing to children. If kids saw this, without knowing that it's gambling, they would probably try accessing the game since there's so much adorable stuff that they would like on this game. Plus the fact that they advertise it on Facebook where kids nowadays have their own account and they might think it's just a simple game. Personally, if I did not know that this is for gambling, I would think that they target to attract children to play the game. We can't blame those who made a report about this because it's really not a good choice of images.

If you are an adult playing on a slot and these images pop up I don't think it will appeal to you, the owner of that gambling site is thinking of what the children will like when they used these images, it's obviously for children and there's no defense for this, 100% of those who will see this will conclude that it's targeting young people.

I've read the article from the second screenshot I shared. the gambling site said to ASA that reason for the cute design as they were appealing to women of age 18-65 but I think the design is a little too cute or kid-like and I agree with ASA that the design actually is a little irresponsible on the gambling site's side.

These picture advertisement isn't attracted to the wwoman aged 18-65 personally speaking because it looks like that these site are advertising to the child and so much pleasant and colorful to the eyes of the children.  This isn't appealing to me if i were a woman aging mid 20's. These should be taken seriously if the gambling site really wanted to attract woman gamblers by simply making their content and game criteria a lot creative than these.

This is very cute and I doubt that they will get attracted on that design. And also, being cute is different from a kids design so this isn't very attractive to women. They should have formed an analysis on what kind of UI they will show to their target audience because even the design will have a factor on success. Most of the gambers are adult and obviously they should have a design thay os very fitting to adults.

[dunfida]

Not like kids could get their hands on a huge sum of money anyway. But I get what they were concerned about. Though personally, I think they are barking at the wrong tree on this one. They should regulate gambling ads to explicitly mention the downsides of gambling and not be on sites that aren't made for gambling. You know what I'm saying?
-snip

oh, but they can. there have been cases in my country where a kid is able to use a debit card, a credit card or other types of e-wallet to buy things online. these cards can be used to deposit on an online gambling site. so yes, kids these days can get their hands on huge sum of money and they can use it to deposit on an online gambling site

also, check this post from quora https://www.quora.com/My-son-deposited-my-money-to-gambling-site-big-amount-of-money-I-asked-for-a-full-refund-they-said-that-they-will-investigate-Will-they-refund-me

Okay lets put more links for related scenario:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/children-using-debit-cards-gamble-online-5361812.html
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boy-aged-13-lost-80000-12639770
https://violette1st.fandom.com/wiki/KID_GAMBLES_AWAY_$1,200_ON_DAD%27S_CREDIT_CARD!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQxwmINR6wg

This might be talking about teens but still considered minors too.

[Insanerman]

What do you guys think ??

It's really a stupid and ballsy move to use such stuffed animals for an advertisement, a marketing idiocy. Yet, in fact, most gambling platforms were really strict in reminding their users that they must be of legal age, yet many still engage on such platforms disregarding its own rules and regulations. In fact, it is not only the fault of the platform and their advertising team, it is also the fault of irresponsible users whom still seeks to engage despite being restricted in their age.

But honestly, targeting under 18 is really hideous. It is fine to have NSFW or disgusting advertisement as long as it is shown in platforms that has age restrictions, and of course with appropriate targeted audiences.

[molsewid]

What do you guys think ??

It's really a stupid and ballsy move to use such stuffed animals for an advertisement, a marketing idiocy. Yet, in fact, most gambling platforms were really strict in reminding their users that they must be of legal age, yet many still engage on such platforms disregarding its own rules and regulations. In fact, it is not only the fault of the platform and their advertising team, it is also the fault of irresponsible users whom still seeks to engage despite being restricted in their age.

But honestly, targeting under 18 is really hideous. It is fine to have NSFW or disgusting advertisement as long as it is shown in platforms that has age restrictions, and of course with appropriate targeted audiences.

Well in fact these type of advertisements are cute and we couldn't set aside the fact that these types of adverisements can add to the flavor of the menu that the gambling sites are promoting but we have just being worried on how these might impact to the children who can accessed these sites if in case. Which in fact, many childrens are now become one of the society of social medias or any type of social media and the danger if they might open it and what if the phone or account that they have used was an old phone of their parents that their accounts have been logged in on that particular gadget. So these might be i guess the one thing that we should be worried off if we were a parents.

[kryptqnick]

I've seen the screenshots in the discussion and the news about these ads that clearly look like they're meant for children, and I think it should be forbidden. Gambling websites should look serious and too complicated for kids to understand, not like a nice little game with toys... It's very irresponsible and cruel to target young people because they're not aware of the risks and responsibility, and they are even more likely to develop addiction if I remember correctly (I read about it once).
But gambling advertising in actually bad in many ways. One of them are the infamous Google ads of phishing websites that copy the designs of famous casinos. So the area needs more regulations and oversight.

[Fredomago]

-Snip-

-Snip-

Well in fact these type of advertisements are cute and we couldn't set aside the fact that these types of adverisements can add to the flavor of the menu that the gambling sites are promoting but we have just being worried on how these might impact to the children who can accessed these sites if in case. Which in fact, many childrens are now become one of the society of social medias or any type of social media and the danger if they might open it and what if the phone or account that they have used was an old phone of their parents that their accounts have been logged in on that particular gadget. So these might be i guess the one thing that we should be worried off if we were a parents.

Precisely! Parents are the one who are worrying much in this kind of situation as the potentials that the kids / minors are prone into
involving themselves into this kind of activities.

Internet is an easy access to play the game even the site are very clear that they are not allowing minors who still under 18 years old
to play those silly little children are capable of using their parents accounts, or worse they can simply create dummy accounts which will
allow them to play especially if it's  crypto related sites where if you don't have any suspicious activities you can freely enjoy the games.

[South Park]

The more this thread goes the more I think and the more I start to think television advertising and youtube advertising should be banned. I don't think it's something people need to be encouraged to do. If people want to gamble I have no issues and if they want to sign up for a daily list of promotions etc I couldn't argue with that.

What you are proposing is too radical, maybe you mean that casinos should not be able to advertise themselves in media like the TV and radio? If that is what you are proposing then this could have a chance to happen as cigarettes are forbidden to promote themselves on television, however if you are actually proposing to ban any kind of advertising in the media then that is not possible as the media depends on that money to survive, and even then you cannot eliminate all advertising as TV shows and movies will be paid to include ads and reduce the quality of our entertainment even further.

[Saint-loup]

Obviously they are targeting, and the authorities are quick to take action, if they continue to do this they can be charge with corrupting the minor, these gambling companies are profit oriented they are already making huge profits from adult gamblers and they want to extend this to young people who will think that they are welcome to gamble on the gambling sites because of those advertising materials.

But children are already playing immoral games like violent and sexual video games. Why they shouldn't be allowed to gamble with worthless digital currencies like Testnet BTCitcoins for example? (Some platforms allow to play with those worthless coins like Bitmex for example)

This seems to be good, but for sure it'll have back effects. Right now we support to gamble with testnet coins just to deviate them from violence and sexual games. When we turn them towards gambling, later even if they try to come out it'll be a big task for them. Let the child enjoy playing different games and if something is found bad we need to give proper guidance which is the best way than turning them towards gambling.

But children need to experiment things to educate themselves. When you learn something during your childhood, it's easier and more natural to manage with it later.

[johhnyUA]

It is hard being a parent and always watching our child while many parents are now busy with their jobs and seem not to give care to their child. Many parents think that if they can facilitate their child with anything, they make their child happy and they will not do anything that bad, but that is not right because our child needs our cares and our loves. We need to stay beside them and teach them anything they should know according to their ages, so they can grow up and know which is good and bad. Maybe the advertisement needs to change and adjust to being a better advertisement that will not attract children or people below 18 years old.

I'm sure this will end up like advertising of cigars and tobacco: creeping ad but anyway people would buy it because they have addiction 
And for children it's looks like easy money, i remember myself in my early years: i wanted to make some money without hard job (most kind of jobs for teenagers is hard jobs). So just changing of gambling advertisement will not help.

[Janation]

I never thought its that lovely. The one that I see here in bitcointalk is the bethash.io casino which has its fluffy mascot only but not the games with cutey characters on slot machines.

But don't you guys think the casino also is doing this so that the gamblers will feel like they are at least kids?  You don't wanna lose thousands of money yet still feel old and miserable but the feeling to be like a kid for just a period of time while playing could be an experience for gamblers.  I 'm sorry I'm just kidding.

I guess so. But I think the casino only wants to give their best services to their members, especially for loyal members, and the casino wants to make them comfortable while playing gambling. And the members can feel satisfied with the services, and the members will not doubt to spend more money just to fills their want to playing gambling. Besides that, that will depend on each people interpretation, and they will have their own opinion.

They don't need an advertisement for that, right?

The fact that they are advertising that means that they needed more gamblers to go visit their casino. If they wanted the best service for their members, that advertisement is not needed. They can just use the budget for that ad to improve the gambling site and offer other things that would make their gamblers, well, gamble more money.

[AicecreaME]

I never thought its that lovely. The one that I see here in bitcointalk is the bethash.io casino which has its fluffy mascot only but not the games with cutey characters on slot machines.

But don't you guys think the casino also is doing this so that the gamblers will feel like they are at least kids?  You don't wanna lose thousands of money yet still feel old and miserable but the feeling to be like a kid for just a period of time while playing could be an experience for gamblers.  I 'm sorry I'm just kidding.

I guess so. But I think the casino only wants to give their best services to their members, especially for loyal members, and the casino wants to make them comfortable while playing gambling. And the members can feel satisfied with the services, and the members will not doubt to spend more money just to fills their want to playing gambling. Besides that, that will depend on each people interpretation, and they will have their own opinion.

They don't need an advertisement for that, right?

The fact that they are advertising that means that they needed more gamblers to go visit their casino. If they wanted the best service for their members, that advertisement is not needed. They can just use the budget for that ad to improve the gambling site and offer other things that would make their gamblers, well, gamble more money.

Exactly, that's what advertisements are for.

Besides, you don't need advertisements with cute stuff just to ease your feelings after your lose in gambling, it won't take back your losses. But if the advertisements of cute stuff makes them happy, then I guess they need to stop gambling and start to buy literal stuff toys and watch it all day in their room, that way, they could save a lot of money instead of losing them.

Advertising's something is a way of marketing a product or services, and that means to attract people to use their products or services.

[Saint-loup]

I've read the article from the second screenshot I shared. the gambling site said to ASA that reason for the cute design as they were appealing to women of age 18-65 but I think the design is a little too cute or kid-like and I agree with ASA that the design actually is a little irresponsible on the gambling site's side.

Even if they conducted a survey or study on this, they should have not proceeded on using these so-called cute pictures, because they are alarming and obviously will also target children and I don't think are more women gamblers than men, they should the target their masculine clients because they are the majority players of the industry, not women and children.

Why not women? I don't understand why it would be unlawful or unethical to target women too?
Ladies aren't children, they're free to gamble if they want to, in most of countries in the world.

[johhnyUA]

Why not women? I don't understand why it would be unlawful or unethical to target women too?
Ladies aren't children, they're free to gamble if they want to, in most of countries of the world.

For honest, he is right. The same as most gamers even now are men, overwhelming amount of gamblers are men. So there is  some sense in his words. But in gambling, many commercial are "gender neutral" and it trying to exploit success terms, like "you will be rich" and so on, to hit more audience (compared to ad where is shown nude girls)

[Saint-loup]

Why not women? I don't understand why it would be unlawful or unethical to target women too?
Ladies aren't children, they're free to gamble if they want to, in most of countries of the world.

For honest, he is right. The same as most gamers even now are men, overwhelming amount of gamblers are men. So there is  some sense in his words. But in gambling, many commercial are "gender neutral" and it trying to exploit success terms, like "you will be rich" and so on, to hit more audience (compared to ad where is shown nude girls)

Yes, and maybe that's why casinos want to reach more ladies now and targeting more specifically them in their advertisements. I just don't understand why they couldn't do that, why it wouldn't be ok to target them?

[acroman08]

Why not women? I don't understand why it would be unlawful or unethical to target women too?
Ladies aren't children, they're free to gamble if they want to, in most of countries of the world.

For honest, he is right. The same as most gamers even now are men, overwhelming amount of gamblers are men. So there is  some sense in his words. But in gambling, many commercial are "gender neutral" and it trying to exploit success terms, like "you will be rich" and so on, to hit more audience (compared to ad where is shown nude girls)

Yes, and maybe that's why casinos want to reach more ladies now and targeting more specifically them. I just don't understand why they couldn't do that, why it wouldn't be ok to target them?

I think its just robelneo's point of view. as for me I don't see anything wrong gambling ads targeting women. but the problem with this ad and why other are being too negative about it is that the ad seems to be too cute that it could only not attract women of legal age but children too especially if the ad is being shown on social media like Facebook(according to plvbob0070) where a lot of young children and teenager girls are active.

[maydna]

Why not women? I don't understand why it would be unlawful or unethical to target women too?
Ladies aren't children, they're free to gamble if they want to, in most of countries of the world.

For honest, he is right. The same as most gamers even now are men, overwhelming amount of gamblers are men. So there is  some sense in his words. But in gambling, many commercial are "gender neutral" and it trying to exploit success terms, like "you will be rich" and so on, to hit more audience (compared to ad where is shown nude girls)

Yes, and maybe that's why casinos want to reach more ladies now and targeting more specifically them. I just don't understand why they couldn't do that, why it wouldn't be ok to target them?

I think its just robelneo's point of view. as for me I don't see anything wrong gambling ads targeting women. but the problem with this ad and why other are being too negative about it is that the ad seems to be too cute that it could only not attract women of legal age but children too especially if the ad is being shown on social media like Facebook(according to plvbob0070) where a lot of young children and teenager girls are active.

You got the point. Yes, the women and children can get attracted to visiting the gambling games website because of the ads. They think that the ads are funny, and they curious to know what it is, so they click on the image or link and redirect to the gambling site. After they at on the site, they curious about how to play the game, and once they know, they will try to play it. Perhaps they will not play too long, but they will be back on the other day because the game is very attractive, making them curious to play more. Social media needs to have control, but it seems the adult people don't give much concern about that, so they don't pay attention. We need to always care for our children because we don't want to see our children playing gambling at their ages.

[adzino]

Oh wow, now this is some interesting news. Never expected those gambling regulatory body would be targeting and monitoring gambling advertisements out there. I mean there are thousands of advertisements and it's impossible for them to track each and every advertisements. I am starting to doubt someone might have placed/reported the advertisement to the higher authorities after he/she thought it was inappropriate. Either this or the government has some every powerful tools!

This aside we do have a bigger problem here to address.
1. Why did the company use this kind of advertising in the first way ?
2. What should we do to ensure that kids under 18 doesn't start to gamble? We cannot ask them for identity cards and then expect them to show.  

1. I highly doubt they did this to attract children. They might have overlooked the problem in the design. I mean, if I saw the advertisement, I don't think I would have noticed anything "weird".

2. Nothing you can do.