Impact of Gambling on Children and Adolescent
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of gambling marketing on children and adolescents. The approach was aimed at assessing the various strategies used by gambling operators to advertise the content, influence on the minors, and the available policies to control wagering. To achieve the set-out objectives, the study began by assessing the secondary sources literature, adopting an exploratory research design. The method of research was a literature review and the process initiated by searching for available literature covering the topic under study. Based on relevance, the journal articles were extracted, and inclusion and exclusion criteria were based on year of publication, connection to the problem, and the methodology. The final set of reviewed papers involved those that adopted qualitative methods, which were studied in-depth to address the research questions. Key findings of the study showed that gambling operators use online platforms to win more children and adolescents to engage in betting. Among the strategies included embedding gambling messages in games, and encouraging the viewers to bet. Also, it was found out that increased gambling results in problem-gambling. The study further indicated a shortcoming in the legal framework around the gambling industry. The current research has identified the loopholes in gambling policies, which gives the companies in this industry the liberty of unmonitored advertisement content.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Companies operating in the gambling industry spend a considerable sum of money on advertising and marketing. The content in regards to their activities is placed in print media such as newspapers and billboards, and also in mainstream media like TV and Radio (LaBrie and Shaffer 2011). In states such as the UK, the US, and Sweden, the rate of gambling has increased over the last two years (Deans et al. 2016) and concentrated among the youths. The phenomenon is witnessed due to the easy access of the internet to the younger generation. As such, gambling companies have also shifted their marketing strategies, by pushing for online marketing to reach a broader geographic, and target adolescent who are significant consumers of online content. Proliferated marketing has impacted the behavior of the younger demographic, worldwide, thus becoming a point of concern to society.
Marketing, according to Smith et al. (2019), is when a company positions its products in the market to attract people to use it. Gambling is marketed in areas where children and adolescents are likely to see the content. Among such areas are store entrances, public transportation, among others. As alluded earlier, the electronic form of marketing exposes the children more, and influence them to practice gambling. Researchers and stakeholders have insisted on the need for the government to regulate the kind of gambling content to be exposed to children (Smith et al. 2019). The author submits that children cannot make the choice of their own, and early influence can alter their behavior negatively. For example, they would become regular gamblers, yet they have no source of income. As a result, they might end up stealing the monies from their parents, which is moral decadence in society.
There is incredible evidence of research, which suggests that gambling has entrenched among the youths. The study conducted in Canada, the US, and the UK confirm that minors have become serious gamblers, thus destabilizing their day to day lives (Monagaghan et al. 2008). The study elucidates that 63% to 82% of the teenagers engage in gambling every year, while 4%-7% of the adults have exhibited pathological addiction to the betting. The impact of these results is drawn from the ever increased marketing behavior of the companies involved in sports betting. More than before, the companies specializing in the gambling industry have invested a considerable amount of funds towards popularizing their business to the younger generation. They are considered vulnerable to the manipulation of the marketers; whose target is to win their minds towards betting. Monagaghan et al. (2008) noted that addiction to gambling affects the academic and social life of the children, who pay much attention to gambling rather than focusing on the essential things in life. The observation is supported by Lamont et al. (2016), who argues that continued airing of betting marketing messages in the social media, mainstream media, and other platforms would, in the future attract more youths to gaming, and it would be difficult to revert this kind of behavior.
The gambling industry is expanding, after that gaining more social acceptability. The researchers suggest that society considers gambling as part of the entertainment, and allowed the youths to engage in it freely (McCormack and Griffiths 2013). The progressive involvement will soon increase the problems related to gambling, such as a change in behavior. Most of the countries like the United States where gambling is a vast market, some jurisdictions prohibit gambling companies from involving the minors in their business. However, it has become difficult to follow these laws to the latter due to the spread and availability of the internet in almost every home. The minors can access computers and smartphones and start gambling online, without the knowledge of people in authority. The scenario is generated by endorsement and promotions done by gambling companies (Hing et al., 2015), luring the youths to engage in betting. Therefore, limiting the minors from participating in the betting games should be corporately handled by the parents, and imposing stricter laws on how the betting companies ought to market their content.
There is an emphasis reported by Parke et al. (2014) on the need to limiting the marketing of gambling. The author affirms that increased popularization changes the attitude of the people to like the product. The impact is more witnessed in immature markets, as people tend to test the new service, consequently influencing their behavior. In the same vein, the author propounds that the gamblers become addicted, causing problem-gambling, classified as a health problem. Minimization of the betting among the youths would significantly limit the addiction. It can be achieved by coming up with laws that guide the gambling companies on the protocols of eliminating the minors in their marketing channels.
Capturing the attention of the consumer is an ideal precondition to promote a particular product. Hanss et al. (2015) noted that gambling companies had adopted an appealing strategy to win more clients. Although not tested over a large data set, the author concluded in the study that symbols, attractive colors, and gifts are among the luring tricks used by such companies. Consequently, the younger generation is easily influenced by the winning perks (Lindsay et al. 2013), making them be frequent gamblers. The study by Hanss et al. (2015) exposed that about 39% of the youths bought lottery tickets, out of the influence of advertisement. The promise to win and gain monetary gain is the critical factor that implores the children to engage in gambling, and they end up forming a gambling behavior. Equally, Thomas et al. (2012) are of the idea that online marketing of gambling is accompanied by other contents, which might not be suitable for children. Most of the companies have capitalized on the liking of gambling by youths, to promote their products alongside the gambling advertisements. The packaging of the content could be unacceptable to the children, thus changing their attitude and behavior. Therefore, gambling affects both the mood and mental health of children and adolescents, hence the need for regulation.
Problem statement
Gambling marketing has increased in modern society, contributed to by the advancement of technology, leading to the involvement of minors in irresponsible gaming. Social media, print, and mainstream media are the carriers of gambling messages, making them spread wide and far. As a consequence, the geographical reach of a single advertisement lands to a plethora of people, and children are among the top consumers of such content. Gambling is among the top of the quickest growing industry in the world (Otto et al. 2016). International revenues collected from the legalized gambling businesses are estimated to reach US$100 billion by the end of the year 2020(Camp et al. 2018). Concomitant with the growing revenues collected from the gambling industry, the expenditure on advertisements from UK, Canada, and Europe also registers an increase (Camp et al. 2018). The study conducted by Monaghan et al. (2008) noted that about 42% of the youths were influenced to betting by the advertisements, while 61% think of what they could buy after winning. Lack of sufficient international laws to regulate gambling marketing suppresses the possibility of protecting minors from consuming such content.
Justification of the study
With the acceptance of gambling in society, betting has become prominent in the world. The gambling business attracts a considerable number of investors while employing marketing strategies to incorporate the gamblers into their operations (Thomas et al. 2012). Despite the attempt to minimize the minors from participating in gambling, there exist a few marketing limitations to abate the pattern of the juniors becoming increasingly entangled into this trend (Tolchard 2013). The access to advanced technology, such as smartphones, and heightened marketing by companies participating in the gambling business, attracts crowds of youths. The main idea behind the increased marketing is to win the psychology of young people, who are much attracted by gaming, such as football, among others. As a result, companies like those in the betting industry have tremendously registered the growth (Gainbury 2015), contributed to by the long record of young people being involved in sport. According to Thomas et al. (2012), gambling is one of the fastest-growing businesses due to secure access to the internet and the existence of wireless technology.
Beecher and Stansbury (2019) noted that about 80% of adults bet once in a year, and 15% engages in gambling weekly. The study reveals that continued gambling for prolonged periods results in a condition termed as problem gambling. This is a pattern of gaming that can alter the way of life by disrupting the families and occupations (Binde 2013). The purpose of conducting this study is to demystify the impact that gambling has on the society, with particular interest of the youths.
Significance of the study
The main aim of this study is to establish the current techniques of gambling marketing and its effects on youths. Multiple forms of advertisement and marketing exist in the present market, where technology is taking precedence in all industries (Dixon et al. 2015). The winning strategy for the gambling industry is the use of platforms, where the youths dominate, such as Facebook. They create Ads and content that appeal to the younger generation, teaching the behavior of gambling (Gavriel-Fried et al. 2015), which, to some extent, destroys their morals. The paper will seek to establish the marketing strategies, impacts to minors and available policies to mitigate infiltration of gambling into the society.
Research Questions
- What are the strategies used to promote gambling?
- What are the effects of gambling marketing on children and adolescents?
- Which policies are in place to limit gambling among children and adolescents?
Research Objectives
- To establish strategies used to promote gambling marketing.
- To determine the effects of gambling marketing on children and adolescents.
- To find out the policies in place to limit gambling among children and adolescents.
The previous chapter has shed insight regarding the impact of gambling among children and adolescents. The literature has stated the primary problem, pointing out the moral degradation of the minors when involved in gambling at an early age. The remaining section of the paper will adopt the following format: Literature review, that will cover the various secondary sources, and theoretical frameworks. Later, chapter three will include the methodology section, detailing the approach the author espoused to cover the stated objectives. Chapters four, five, and six will be results, discussion, and conclusion, respectively.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Gambling is one of the fast-growing industries in the world. The rapid development and innovation in technology have enabled the companies dealing with gambling, to fast track the marketing activities, thus appealing to a large population of the audience (Browne et al. 2017). They advertise their content without consideration of the segment of the community they wish to reach, exposing the minors to manipulation. The effects of this strategy have created an environment of moral corruption, and several states, such as the UK, have developed succinct laws to mitigate the influence of betting companies on children and adolescents. The study conducted by Lopez-Gonzalez (2017) noted that about 6.84 European gambled for the year 2018, by utilizing the online platforms. Among the gambling, sports betting topped the list, which accounts for 48.3 % of sports betting. The observation is supported by Gainsbury et al. (2014), who noted that sports betting is becoming popular in the world, and the vast number of attracted to it are youths. It is due to this scenario that the EU has come up with legislation to decrease the entrenchment of betting into society. The move was made to protect the citizens from the undesirable impacts of unregulated betting, which are classified into two categories: match-fixing and health problem issues.
The observation made by Gainsbury et al. (2014), is contradicted by Scott et al. (2019), who is of the idea that the change in technology is inevitable. Instead, people are embracing technology, a loophole utilized by the gambling marketers to forward their content to potential customers. Griffiths (2017) asserts that sports betting has been there for decades, and it is unjustifiable to lay all blame on the companies operating in the gambling industry. To them, they utilize every chance to increase their revenue, as opposed to the mass perception that the companies are in the business of degrading the moral fabrics of society. A similar approach of investigation is utilized by Hou (2019), who reported that gambling business is legal and allowed to function in all countries. They are allowed to market their content through various media, and choosing who to consume the material is a challenge. This has been the point of conflict between the companies, and the authorities, despite the companies’ efforts to limit minors from engaging in betting (Bonello and Griffiths 2019). The major weakness of this study is the failure to segment the marketing content based on age.
According to Lopez-Gonzalez (2017), the health effects of persistent gambling, regarded as problem gambling, were of less interest. Traditionally, betting was less prevalent in society, and the companies dealing in this form of business acted based on the laws of the land. Such companies had physical delegated places, where an individual could gamble (Gray et al. 2012). The risk factors associated with this kind of gambling were low, and only adults were allowed to get into the gambling stations. However, the new era of the internet has revolutionized things and made it possible for children and adolescents to engage in betting. The study conducted by Hing et al. (2015) illustrated that more youths had embraced online betting due to the low stakes needed to place a bet. The author conducted primary research of school-going adolescents in the UK and questioned them on their knowledge about online gambling, with a particular focus on football. The output of the study confirms that 70% of the participants engaged in sports betting since it allowed affordable stake, and accessibility of the internet in their homes. However, Thomas et al. (2012) uphold that the marketing strategy with the new functionality of cash wins is the critical factor that has attracted the minors to betting trends (Ring et al. 2019). The desire to win cash propels the gambler to continue betting, thus becoming a repeated pattern that becomes difficult to break. Lopez-Gonzalez (2017) upholds that online marketing has lured minors to gambling through the creation of innovative content. However, it fails to consider other elements of marketing, such as mainstream and print media that publishes content using celebrities.
The transformation of gambling from a subject of availability, to the continuous form, has embedded the moral question in it. Presently, betting is not something to question about, since the operators have provided ready to use platforms online. Deans et al. (2016) point out that the betting companies have tried to change the tide by turning the process appear positive in the eyes of society. They have done so by participating in the corporate social programs, such as sponsoring the football clubs, but Lindsay et al. (2013) are of the idea that that move is a form of cold marketing. The modern gambling marketing is being reversed to change the negative perception it has already created in the society, which prompts the need for taming its impacts to the minors.
Strategies used by gambling operators to promote their business
Gambling operators have a broad base of opportunities to leverage modern technology to spread their content globally. The intention to use the internet and social media are thought of by Nicholls (2012) as the most effective strategy. The entrenchment and appreciation of new technologies cut across all demographics, and youths are more predisposed to the contents of gambling. The study conducted by Gainsbury et al. (2016) suggests that the bulk of social media users is estimated to be around 26% of the total global population. The author is of the idea that the number comprises of major youths, who are attracted by the advertisement pushed forward by the betting companies. The companies choose the content that appeals to the younger generation and indirectly influences them to participate in betting activities. For example, they want a product that is widely liked by the minors, and markets their products alongside the gambling content. Freeman et al. (2014) affirm that this kind of cold marketing has detrimental effects on the attitudes of the younger people, thus the need to instruct individual companies to adopt ethical marketing.
Furthermore, Gainsbury et al. (2016) noted that 89% of the Australian population has access to social accounts; averagely used two hours per day. Also, 72% of the youths use the internet once in a day (McMullan and Miller 2010), signifying the reason gambling companies target their marketing strategy to fit the teenagers. The study conducted by McMullan and Miller (2010) would appear to be over-ambitious in its claim that about 72% of the youths have a high consumption rate of the internet. The research was based on a sample population of five-hundred school-going adolescents who were interviewed on how often they use the internet per day. The study employed a qualitative method, and one of the weaknesses is that it did not individually question the students on how often they bet daily.
Given the potential stimulus of the internet and social media, gambling industries are now focused on utilizing the online platforms to engage the consumers. The marketing research conducted by Nicholls (2012) identified that discussion of critical events in the sporting industry in social media such as Facebook and twitter engages the people, motivating them to continue consuming the betting content. The study drew responses from the UK market, and the answers were provided for by all people who have an interest in sports. The literature established that youths have much curiosity about the trending topics in games, especially on the selling and buying of new players, and the general performance of the club. Analysis of Facebook and Twitter profiles of the gambling companies indicated that they referred to popular topics in sports (Tetrevova and Patak 2019). Yang et al. (2019) have challenged some of Tetrevova and Patak’s (2019) conclusions, arguing that referencing popular topics is not necessarily a way to attract readers. Still, a corporate responsibility to inform the customers.
Despite the extensive use of social media for marketing, its regulations are unclear. For example, it is a requirement for any company advertising online to have a disclaimer instructing the consumers to gamble responsibly. According to Gainsbury et al. (2016), all the businesses have the responsibility to abide by the code of advertising, by being ethical in their marketing strategies. It is illegal to deceive the customers by providing misleading information, aimed at convincing them to buy the product. Similarly, companies can be held accountable for comments or posts on the online walls that appear to manipulate readers to accept their services or products. However, Yang et al. (2019) affirm that not all post on the company’s Facebook page falls under a category of advertisement. The author records that only branded information is subjected to a code of ethics, and this has been the loophole that the betting companies have continually utilized to do their business. Also, Gainsbury et al. (2016) promulgate that gambling is regulated at the state level, making it difficult to understand whose responsibility it is to oversee the global marketing advertisement. Social media sites have universal coverage, and a company can advertise the content worldwide within a short period. Lack of appropriate binding protocols permits gambling companies to experiment with social media liberally, thus influencing more children and adolescents to gamble.
Moreover, gambling operators are among the top sponsors of notable sports clubs. The trend has entrenched in football clubs, and Calvosa (2017) affirms that it is due to the massive popularity of football that has made the betting companies resort to sponsorships. Sportpesa, Betway, among others, inject huge funds to clubs, which makes their brands observable globally. The study conducted by Luo (2017) pointed out that young people top the list of football fans. In the study, the author did primary research, using a mixed methodology to establish the reason the youths are attracted to football. About 80% of the interviewed participants confirmed that they like particular players, hence their support for specific clubs. The betting companies utilize the psychological attitudes of the supporters, to drive their message across. A similar observation is made by (Winters and Derevensky 2019), noting that betting companies leverage the psychological leaning of the population to promote their products. In the study, Winters and Derevensky (2019) hold that the individual companies conduct online surveillance, to determine what people like most. They do so using Google Analytics (Procter et al. 2019), which provides the patter of consumer’s behavior. The assertion by Luo (2017) that gambling businesses capitalize on people’s liking of particular clubs is the concept that is derived after studying the functioning of the consumers online. The principal elements to establish what is liked most include the number of likes and comments. As a result, controlling the age limit for gambling has become a challenge, which reverts to the parenting role. Leung (2019) advocates for parents to take the leading role in teaching their children about the danger of gambling. The study conducted by Leung. (2019) does not provide answers to some of the strategies that can be utilized to mitigate the minors from consuming gambling messages. There is a need to corporately fight for universal laws, to cushion the younger generation from adverse effects of unethical marketing.
Effects of gambling marketing on children and adolescents
Previous authors such as McBridge and Dereyensky (2017) have explored the impacts of gambling marketing in the broader society at large. The result of the study illustrated that betting companies capitalizing on promoting their services have little regard for the impacts it creates for the younger generation. The author observed that most of these companies focus on generating more traffic, as the more substantial the crowd, the more the profit. The observation is supported by Derevensky (2019), affirming that various governments have underscored in the issue of protecting the population against the severe impacts of increased betting for the productive segment of the people. Research led by Russel et al. (2018) sought to understand how gambling promotion affects the attitude of the gambler. The outcome of the study indicated that problem gamblers are much addicted to betting, compared to other types of players. It further went ahead to illustrate that most of the children and adolescents fall under the category of problem gamblers since they have no control over their betting behavior. Equally, the promotional appeals created by the gambling companies leads to compulsive consumption, hence posing a challenge to the minors. However, Russel et al. (2018) the has been descriptive, which alters the validity of the assertions put forward by the author. Excessive marketing, primarily through social media platforms, create classical conditioning among the gamblers, thus becoming addicted to the betting lifestyle.
Moreover, a study conducted by Leon-Jariego et al. (2019) stipulated that continued gambling among minors encourages drug and substance abuse. The data of the study was collected from the parents with school-going children, and who had internet connectivity in the house. From the sample population, the author concluded that those children who had shown signs of drug abuse had an initial exposure to betting activities. An alternative interpretation of the origins of drug abuse behavior can be found in Engebo et al. (2019), who uphold that peer influence has a strong effect on introducing a child to drug abuse, compared to listening to gambling promotional information. Engebo et al. (2019) interpretation overlook much of the historical research that has linked behavioral changes of the children to early exposure to gambling content.
A large number of gambling marketing advertisements are misleading. There is little reference to the winning, but much emphasis is laid on encouraging the gambler to place their stake (Ring et al. 2018). There is plenty of research suggesting that children learn about alcohol and tobacco through television advertisements (Tomei and Richter, 2019). The same can be extrapolated to gambling, and several adolescents and youths are lured to gaming by the content passed across the media. Engebo et al. (2019) describe that the use of catch-phrases aimed at winning jackpot plays upon minors’ instincts, consequently influencing them to bet. The impact of this phenomenon is that the company gains more traffic, which can be converted into a source of income. The previous point is critiqued by Bouguettaya et al. (2020), who argues that present-day consumers are intelligent and selective of the products they feel right for them. Apart from advertising, the conviction for engaging in betting is by far above the advertisement placed across the media. Goodie et al. (2019) further details that personal interest is the key to making a choice of either engaging in gambling or not. In a recent article, Gallaway et al. (2019) question the extent to which advertisements can influence the personal decision. According to the author’s stance, people have the liberty to purchase a product. Nicholson et al. (2019) also introduce another element of availability of resources, as the determining factor towards spending in gambling. Therefore, the intention to use money in betting is first registered in the mind, and not necessarily contributed to by marketing.
Policies to limit gambling
Gambling advertising should be done ethically to protect children and adolescents from becoming addicts (Goyder et al., 2020). Based on the UK Advertising Codes, any gambling content should be created to protect the vulnerable, children, and young persons from exploitation. In this regard, the precepts mandate all the companies operating in the industry, as mentioned above, to monitor how and when they air content, failure to which the owners be subjected to the rule of law. The applicability of these measures has been strongly contested by a number of writers such as Ariyabuddhiphongs (2013), who noted that various governments had been double-dealing on the issue of ethical gambling. Being a multimillion industry, the authorities weigh the impact of bringing down these companies on individual morals. The observation made by the researcher elucidates that the government has impeded the implementation of the laws curtailing the depth of gambling marketing, thus giving the companies the liberty to act irresponsibly.
Despite the stringent measures taken by the UK government to protect the younger citizens, it has become a challenge to monitor every advert that is pushed through online platforms such as Facebook, or twitter (Waugh and Grant 2019). Not unless a citizen complains of the potential exploitation by a particular company, there is a thin line of difference between advertisement and content for creating public awareness. David et al. (2019) confirm in the study that lack of clarity of what constitutes marketing content has provided the gambling companies an opportunity to take advantage of minors, which are easy to manipulate. In response to this phenomenon, all governments should heighten online surveillance to deepen adherence to the law of ethical marketing.
In the same vein, gambling marketing is allowed for adults aged twenty-five years and above. Although the age might vary depending on the country, the universal principle is that anyone not allowed to make personal life decisions should not be allowed to gamble (Sharman et al. 2019). According to Lerkkanen et al. (2019), it is the responsibility of the company to adopt a marketing strategy that can exclude minors. Among such approaches are advertising late hours, minimize the use of social media platforms, and always accompanying every content with a disclaimer limiting visibility of the children and adolescents. Despite these, little progress has been made in changing the way of operation, thus compounding the challenge of more minors becoming additive to gaming.
Theoretical framework
The previous review confirms that consistent consumption of information from the media contributes to the change of behaviour. The indirect moderator effect model conceptualizes the variables that can be altered to increase or reduce the use of a substance (Hirsch et al. 2019). Based on this model, media is the source of large pieces of information, which is made available to the population to choose from. Due to the embracement of current forms of media, gambling is easier and cuts through all age groups. A moderator, who could be the government or companies themselves should be able to sift the information that lands to the final consumer to prevent the adoption of negative behavior. The indirect moderator effect model confirms that regulating the mediator variables such as attitude, length of the message, and consistency of viewing provides a desired outcome (Monaghan et al. 2008).
Figure 1: Indirect moderator effect model(Monaghan et al. 2008)
As well, the social diffusion theory seeks to explain the spread of innovation and new ideas in different social groups (Kim et al. 2019). The model affirms that a new approach has to go through the five stages, namely knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. Taking into consideration the marketing of gambling, the initial stage entails informing the potential consumers, of the available products, and probable gain of betting. This stage of awareness creation is the one that most of the gambling companies capitalize on (Milner et al. 2013), to generate enough traffic on their site, later improving their ratings. They place their advertisement alongside the products consumed by the minors, to win their attitude and perception about betting. Gradually, the marketing content is designed to persuade the targeted population, meaning regular refinement of the material to fit the trending topics. Ring et al. (2018) sanction that knowledge and persuasion are the two key elements, which the gambling companies apply to win youthful customers.
Critics question the ability of social diffusion theory to explain the impact of gambling marketing among children and adolescents. For example, Gillard (2016) illustrates that innovation is the revolution that every society has to undergo. The author noted that all people, irrespective of their age, have embraced the new technology, and therefore, not a significant reason for minors to be entrenched in gambling. However, Willis and Tranter (2006) illustrated that the social diffusion theory provides a piece of background information about the influence of modern technology in making global information available to all people.
Research Gap
The problem of children and adolescent getting involved in gambling is apparent and widely recognized by the society (Monaghan et al. 2008). Despite the relevant authorities and individual betting companies having knowledge of effects of gambling on minors, the trend of violation has been on the upsurge. The effects of gambling have been researched by several authors, and the widely covered area is on the health of the gamblers, commonly referred to as problem gambling. Contrary, the guidelines for responsible gambling are less looked into, despite the irresponsible actions of the gambling operators influencing the minors into their business. Little has been done on the role of independent stakeholders, in fight against gambling marketing focused on children. The current study adds on available policies regulating the betting companies, to establish the possible action of averting further spread of gambling behavior.
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
The previous chapter discussed the impact of gambling marketing on children and adolescents. The literature elaborates on the policies available to mitigate the trend of gambling and some of the strategies utilized by operators to engage the minors in the gaming business. The current chapter evaluates the research design and methodology used to establish how spread it is the marketing of gambling products among children and adolescents. The section will address research philosophy, approach, strategy and research methods and justify the reason for choosing each one of them. It will also discuss the sampling strategy and data analysis approaches.
Research Design
Research design is coherently integrating all elements of research to address the research problem. It entails a plan for collecting, measurement, and the process of analyzing the data. This kind of design aims at exploring the research questions to gain more information in regards to the topic under study (Nguyen et al. 2016). Therefore, it is not conclusive, and the author can change the direction of the argument, based on the revelation of new data. The exploratory design does not provide final thoughts but instead offers a chance to examine the issue in-depth. One of the advantages of this design is that it is flexible. The researcher can change the pattern of the argument after gaining enough evidence in support or contradicting the research problem. In the same vein, it provides a gap for future studies, hence playing a pivotal role in advancing the body of knowledge. Therefore, the main reason for choosing this design was due to the potential for exploring more comprehensive sources of data.
Research approach
Research is defined as the process of investigation to obtain new knowledge about a particular theme of concern. The research process entails collection, processing and analyzing of information (Fulton 2018) to gain an in-depth understanding of the topic that is under study. It is done to answer the research questions, which guide the researcher in finding pieces of literature and establish the best way of organizing the stage of data collection. There are two categories of reasoning in research, classified as deductive and inductive (Marei 2017). The deductive approach is concerned with exploring a known theory. It starts by developing a hypothesis and coming up with a research design to test that hypothesis (Benitez-Correa et al. 2019). As a result of starting from a general point of view, to a more specific concept, this kind of approach is referred to as top-down (Zalaghi and Khazaei 2016). The contrary, inductive approach begins from a particular phenomenon, and the researcher proceeds to make a generalized concept by evaluating the interrelation between variables (Gottfredson and Aguinis 2017). In this case, the hypotheses are not required, and the researcher is not sure of the results until the entire process is complete.
According to Pearse (2019), the deductive method is concerned with collecting data through quantitative methods. On the other hand, the inductive approach focuses on qualitative data. The current study follows inductive reasoning because the author is concerned with learning how gambling marketing has impacted the children and adolescent. Also, the study did not develop any hypothesis, and the primary source of data is qualitative. The paper aimed to compare themes presented by various authors and form a conclusion based on observation. However, inductive reasoning can be misleading (Murtagh, 2019). The findings are probable since the author relies on the already tested facts, which can be misreported.
Research philosophy
There are three main types of research philosophies, classified as positivism, interpretivism and pragmatic. Positivism is concerned with the measurement of scientific data, collected using a quantitative method. The researcher adopted this kind of philosophy can employ statistical analysis of data and test the hypotheses. Interpretivism, on the other hand, upholds that facts can be verified by the use of instruments and conventional approaches (Dougherty et al. 2019). According to Johnson et al. (2019), interpretivism philosophy proposes to study the behaviour of the participants and present the finding in a graphic format. Comparing themes and ideas from the literature is the critical basis of interpretivism, which makes it an ideal approach for qualitative research. In the same vein, pragmatics believe that there is more than one way of interpreting the data. It includes both qualitative and quantitative data, thus providing an in-depth understanding of the topic under study. Adopting pragmatic philosophy is time-consuming since it has objective and subjective results requiring analysis (Sun 2019). Therefore, the current research takes interpretivism philosophy to establish the impacts of gambling marketing on children and adolescents. The choice is cheaper and less time consuming compared to the other two philosophies.
Research strategy
In this case, a literature review strategy was utilized. The strategy permits the classification of data in the form of themes, thus helping in the understanding of the topic under study in-depth (Laureani and Antony 2019). Since the primary focus of the research was to establish the views of other researchers, the literature was extracted from accessible sources, such as Directory of Open Access Journals, and Scopus, to compare and contrast the ideas. A similar approach was embraced by Mustapha and Enilolobo (2019), who performed a study to determine the effects of gambling on the economy. Through the review of literature, the author established that there was a linear relationship between gambling and increased revenue for the government. It is essential to note that the phenomenological research tactic was employed in the current study to gain more knowledge about the issue of gambling marketing.
Furthermore, selection of the articles for analysis in the results section was approached in a systematic way, presented in form of PRISMA diagram. The diagram provides a presentation of the literatures screen for the study, and the major reasons for including or excluding a particular article (Moher et al. 2010). In developing the diagram, the sources were searched from the Scopus and Directory of Open Access Journal databases. The outcome, was further filtered to remove the duplicates. Consequently, titles/abstracts of the selected journal were further screened, based on language and methods used, leaving the author with full-text articles for eligibility assessment. Figure 2 below illustrates the steps taken in selecting the sources.
Figure 2:PRISMA diagram
Further analysis of the selected sources is highlighted in the Appendix section, in form of literature review matrix. The matrix provides the titles of the selected articles, research questions, methodologies, results and recommendations.
The coding process was used to classify the selected journal articles, adopting the following process. One, the selection began by familiarization. This is where the researcher read through the papers, noting down the methodology, research designs, sampling techniques, and the general concept of the paper. The stage allowed the writer to gain a surface idea of whether the article is appropriate for use in the study, regarded as coding. After this level, themes were generated in relation to the effects of gambling marketing on children and adolescents. They were later reviewed to establish if they mattered to the current topic. Themes were categorized into three phases, including; strategies used for gambling marketing, effects of gambling marketing on children and adolescents, and policies for limiting gambling. The classification helped to write up the paper in a logical format. The inclusion and exclusion criteria was categorized as shown below.
| Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
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Research method
Qualitative method of study was used since it provides a broad base of information extracted from secondary sources of information. Qualitative approach conceptualizes the information about the topic in the research, takes the relevant data in regards to gambling marketing, and allows original explanations about the phenomenon (Mohammadian et al. 2019). In the qualitative method, the author understands the topic from the experiences of others (Vass et al. 2017). The author further notes that the qualitative process begins from assumptions, general view, and later focusing on the specifics. The purpose of settling on the mentioned method is the need to save time. However, the approach does not provide the researcher with a chance to test the variables.
Data collection and analysis
The purpose of the paper is to establish what impact gambling marketing has on the minors. To gain more information about the topic, a range of data was used. Primarily, peer-reviewed journals were the source of information, and the objective was to compare the themes of various researchers who have tackled a similar issue. Mace et al. (2017) stressed the effectiveness of using broad sources of data in investigating a problem under study. Further, the author upholds that quantitative and qualitative research differ in the method of data collection. Among the tools for data collection are observation, questionnaires, surveys, among others. The present work utilized a study of the literature to collect the data for answering the set research questions. The process is useful and provides vast information for comparison.
According to Gogtay and Thatte (2020), a sample is a small portion of the broader population. The sampling process is different depending on whether the research adopts a qualitative or a quantitative method. For a qualitative study, like in this case, sampling of literature is done based on purpose, thus considered non-random (He et al., .2016). The selection of the articles began by developing keywords that enabled to consolidate enough literature to make the work successful. The following table illustrates the keywords, and the number of searches identified.
| Keywords | Outcome |
| Impact of gambling marketing
Effect of gambling marketing on children and adolescents. Strategies for gambling marketing Gambling marketing Impacts of gambling marketing in society Policies to limit gambling among children and adolescent
|
58,300
61,800
84,300 147,000 50,200 20,000 |
Equally, the data analysis was based on ideas, and no statistical tests were performed since the study utilized already tested facts. Several key factors can contribute to the ethical system protection in research such as voluntary participation, consent requirement and confidentiality (Jerolmack and Murphy 2019). In this research, ethical consideration was not an issue of concern since secondary data was utilized.
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
The previous chapter describes the approach that was undertaken to review the literature. It illustrated the research methods, design and sampling strategy of the qualitative research. Since the study aims to evaluate the impact of gambling marketing on children and adolescent, the methodology section provided a step by step approach through which the author reviewed and categorized the data. The present chapter offers the outcome of the review, presented in the form of tables, charts, and graphs.
Gambling marketing strategies utilized by operators
The study conducted by Elton-Marshall and Turner (2016) explained that modern technology has contributed to the adoption of gambling among the children and the adolescent. In the study, the author investigates both online and land-based gambling in Canada. The study involved about 10,035 students who responded to the gambling survey conducted across the different provinces in Canada. The output of the study illustrated that 41.6% of the adolescent participated in gambling (35.9% females and 47.4% males). Also,9.4% of the adolescent had involved in online gambling, either through influence from the peers or through advertisement aired in the mainstream media. The above observation is seconded by Reynolds (2019) whose study finds that gambling companies utilize Google analytics to track the behavior of the betters online. The study records that about 30-50 billions of data is pulled from gambling databases, and used for predictive personalization. Similarly, it was noted that sports betting topped among online gambling games, while land-gambling was less popular. Among the adolescent who engaged in gambling, 22.4% of them did so due to proceeds gained from gambling, linked to money, or something of a higher value. Males who had participated in gambling were likely to gamble once more, compared to females. As indicated in Figure 3 below, there are few gamers using online platforms exclusively (1.8%), but those who had prior experience of gambling utilize both land-based and online gaming (20.6%). A high number of adolescents engaged in land-based gambling.
Figure 3: Prevalence of land-based and online gambling (Elton-Marshall and Turner 2016)
Lole et al. (2019) found out that responsible gambling information was displayed at the bottom of the screen, in small formats that could not be easily identified. Also, the message remained statistic and had no background stimulation to attract the attention of the viewer. In support of the observation made by Lole et al. (2019) Elton-Marshall and Turner (2016) explains that entrenchment of new technology, and availability of internet enables the operators to tailor the content that appeals to the viewers, this shadowing the warning messages. However, McGivern et al. (2019) evaluated the effects of pop-up warning messages on the expenditure of the gambling company. The result of this study suggests that expenditure-specific messages reduce the money collected from wagering. Constant gamblers continue to gamble irrespective of warnings, while the beginners, who constitute the highest percentage get scared of losing money.
As a result, Figure 4 below demonstrates the level of fixation to marketing messages for a gambler(G) and non-gamblers(N). From the figure, A, B, C, D represent the different episodes of advertisements.
Figure 4: Levels of fixation to gambling messages for non-gamblers and gamblers (Lole et al. 2019)
The study by Quinn et al. (2019) aimed to establish the frequency of sports betting marketing during sports events. During the live games, it was noted that the marketing content was displayed for an average of 341.1 minutes, and when televised, the material was advertised for 4.8 minutes. The results of this study indicated three strategies used by gambling operators, which are; embedding sports gambling in the game, aligning betting based on the overall experience of the game, and finally encouraging the viewers for live betting. While the author is holds that the operators strongly influence the people to betting, Elton-Marshall and Turner (2016) is of the idea that adolescent and children understand gambling from their peer, and through their own initiative for curiosity to learn more. As a result, they practice betting to test, and finally become regular gamblers. Also, there were few messages cautioning or guiding the gamers on the repercussions of prolonged betting to counter overwhelming positive messages regarding betting. Table 1 below illustrates the frequency of marketing content in two selected stadiums.
Table 1: Frequency of gambling marketing in selected stadiums (Quinn et al. 2020)
Table 2 below clarifies the frequency of advertising of gambling content in a televised sport.
Table 2: Frequency of gambling marketing in televised matches (Quinn et al. 2020)
Impact of gambling on children and adolescent
Zhao et al. (2018) studied the prevalence of adolescents in betting, and the chances of risks associated with gambling, such as problem gambling. The outcome of the research showed that 5% of the participants had a high chance of developing problem gambling. Also, it was identified that 31% of the total participants indicated to have participated in mobile gambling, either through self-awareness or influence from the peers. Males were likely to participate in gambling, 3.7 higher than the females willing to engage in wagering. Additionally, 7.5% of the adolescent were predisposed to risks of gambling, such as a change in behavior. A similar observation was made by Elton-Marshall and Turner (2016), who noted that males engaged more in gambling compared to females, and that adolescent are more predisposed to challenges associated with gambling. This is so because adolescent and children have high usage of internet, and are more aware of the modern technologies. Table 3 explains the prevalence of problem gambling, according to gender and age.
Table 3: Prevalence of problem gambling based on gender and age (Zhao et al. 2018).
The effects of gambling marketing on youth’s behavior and attitude were studied by Korn et al. (2005). The primary objective of the study was to evaluate how advertisements for gambling influenced youths. The findings of this study confirmed that most of the teenagers engage in gaming due to the influence of the peers, and they would continue to bet, even with the knowledge of the legal age to engage in wagering. The argument contradicts the observation of Quinn et al. (2019), whose main idea is that operators of gambling implores the youths to betting, by increasing the frequency of the gambling advertisements. According to the author, it is the operator’s responsibility to control the content that viewers consume, but Korn et al. (2005) believes that gamblers have an internal influence of betting.
The study by Parrado-Gonzalez and Leon-Jariego (2020) aimed at assessing the influence of gambling advertisement on the changed of attitudes of the adolescent. Involving 1174 participants aged between 12-20 years, the final result showed that increase in the frequency of gambling results in a health problem regarded as problem gambling. The study further examined the impact of family support on the attitude of betting. In this case, the sample was divided into two. Those with high support from family members (559), and low support (558). It was observed that adolescents receiving support from family members displayed a negative attitude towards betting, as shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Effects of family support on attitude towards gambling (Parrado-Gonzalez and Leon-Jariego 2020)
Policies to decrease gambling marketing to minors
Practices of responsible gambling are implemented differently by the operators in this industry. The study conducted by Forsstrom and Cisneros-Ornberg (2019) collected the views of the operators in the gambling business, to establish how they controlled pushing of advertisement content to minors. The result of this study clarified that non-licensed operators followed the behavior of the gamblers, compared to the licensed entities. Also, both licensed and non-licensed gambling companies relied on alerts from the authorities on the need for advocating for responsible gambling. In the same vein, Buil et al. (2015) examined the available regulation in Spain, controlling the industry of gambling. The author noted that there are shortcomings in the present legal framework, which exposes the minors to exploitation by gambling marketers. Table 5 summarizes the set regulations to govern the advertisement of wagering content.
Table 5: Gambling marketing regulations (Buil et al. 2015)
Additionally, Carran (2013) argued that Britain has strict jurisdictions that exclude minors from involving in gambling. They have an elaborate age-verification mechanism, but the study shows that the system has been rendered less helpful. The result of this research exhibits that the minors continue to engage in betting. Consequently, the legal framework has statutory loopholes, especially enforcement deficiencies.
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION
The main aim of this paper was to evaluate the impact of gambling marketing among children and adolescents. The current chapter analyzes the results found in the study and critically establish the effectiveness of the concepts in answering the research questions.
Gambling operators were found to employ different strategies in gambling marketing. Due to the proliferation of the use of the internet, social media is one of the critical platforms utilized by companies in the betting industry. The reviewed literature shows that online gambling tops in the list of the most preferred way of betting due to its efficiency and user-friendly interface (Browne et al. 2017). As a result, the operators capitalize on providing content that would attract the betters to place a bet. They influence gamers on the basis of winning cash and valuable gifts, which invite them to spend their money on wagering. According to Ring et al. (2019), online platforms generate high traffic of the audience, a significant reason the gambling operators push their content through them. The authors further affirm that free advertisement enabled marketers to cut on cost, thus finding much usage.
However, Elton-Marshall and Turner (2016) argues that land-based gambling is higher compared to online gambling. The observation contradicts what some of the authors such as Quinn et al. (2019), contends, that the prevalence of gambling is mainly in the online platforms. Elton-Marshall and Turner (2016) further informs that adults are less conversant with the modern technology, which makes the resort of land-based gambling, hence registering the high number. Figure 3 illustrated that land-based gambling is much common among the adolescent. The observation is explained by diffusion theory, which demonstrates that innovation is much experienced among the younger generation (Min et al. 2019). Therefore, online gambling is expected to be more among children, who are curious to understand more about modern technology.
Furthermore, Table 1 and Table 2 offer a comparison of the frequency of advertisement in the televised and live matches. For televised games, primarily through free-to-air TV, the gambling operators pay for more time, to reach a broad audience base. Quinn et al. (2020) upholds that the frequency of gambling messages determine how often a person engages in wagering. Televised matches appeal to a large group of people, and the messages played alongside attract the younger generation. The information passed across is filled with promises, and communicate only the positive aspects of gambling, which makes irresponsible betting appear ethical. Therefore, televised matches wins more traffic, compared to live games.
Presently, most of the homes are installed with a TVs, and the highest percentage of viewers consists of children and adolescents. This is supported by Griffiths (2017), who affirms that television views increase during holidays, an indication of high consumption from the said set of groups. Gambling companies pay for advertisements to be played alongside televised matches, to capture the attention of the young people, and to implore them to gamble. Contrary, marketing on live events was low since the stadiums have less capacity compared to the air coverage. The strategy of embedding gambling messages in the games, and encouraging the viewers to bet aims to change the attitude of the gamblers (Hing et al. 2015), towards appreciating irresponsible gambling. Whyte and Dunning (2016) noted that these advertisements are devoid of alert messages regarding the dangers of gambling addiction, shadowing the ethics of gambling.
Gambling impacts the behavior and attitude of children and adolescents. The betting messages played on social media and mainstream media, code the thinking of the people, to fit the company’s intention. In this case, the advertisement is meant to convert the viewers to become potential customers of the gambling products (Russel et al. 2018). To execute this goal, the operators regularly play the content and the pattern induces the minors to embrace the gambling trend. Table 3 illustrates that men tend to gamble more than once compared to females, hence stand at a higher chance of developing a condition referred to as problem-gambling. Nevertheless, Goodie et al. (2019) uphold that problem-gambling is developed based on the individual’s perception of gambling. Those who rely on proceeds gained from gambling takes it as a career, while opponents of gambling perceive gaming as a moral degradation.
Additionally, Parrado-Gonzalez and Leon-Jariego (2020) details how support from the family members can influence the attitude towards gambling as shown in Table 4. From the table, individuals getting enough support from family members disregard betting, compared to those receiving low help. Attitude is developed from the environment in which a person is exposed to (Engebo et al. 2019), thus shaping one’s character. Children are easy to take up the things they hear and see. Such, guiding them on the dangers of persistence gambling expose them early, and the likelihood of betting when they grow is low.
Different states have stipulated policies for controlling gambling, especially for protecting minors. A study done by David et al. (2019) indicated that gambling operators focus on the number of users they receive on their platforms, without giving appropriate warnings towards irresponsible gambling. Messages of winning are more than those of providing guidelines to responsible gambling, hence leaving the children and adolescents to manipulation. A similar observation by Forsstrom and Cisneros-Ornberg (2019) point out that wagering companies wait for alerts from the authorities to follow stipulated policies of protecting children from gambling. The intention to ignore the exclusion of minors from gaming can be supported by the assertion that the highest number of internet users are youths and children (Sharman et al., 2019). Separating the operators from this section of the population is equivalent to limiting their earnings. Table 5 notes that gambling for minors is prohibited, and operators are mandated to verify the data of the participants before offering them a chance to gamble. Despite there being a robust directive on betting, shortcomings in the legal framework have made the industry open to all. Consequently, minors continue to involve in betting, risking them to addiction.
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
The previous sections have critically evaluated the impacts of gambling marketing to the children and the adolescent. From the reviewed literature, it was evident that gambling has entrenched into society and affected people differently. Of concern was the minors, who have less control of the content they watch in Televisions, or through the social media platforms. Due to the freedom of media, the airing of gambling content rarely segments the viewers based on ages, which has been the primary reason for the proliferation of wagering. There are more youths involved in online gambling, and adults adopt land-based gambling. Such, the highest population targeted by the online gambling operators are the minors, which affect their behavior and attitudes. The literature affirmed that operators use strategies like advertising content alongside the matches, and promising the gamblers of winning money and valuable gifts if they participate in gambling.
Additionally, addiction to gambling results in health challenges regarded as problem-gambling. This kind of health risk was pointed out to affect mostly the youths. To give further explanation to this phenomenon, the social diffusion theory illustrated that the youthful generation is prone to accepting modern technologies faster than the adults. As a consequence, any business operating in online platforms, such as gambling, capitalizes on the high traffic of children and adolescents, which has made it a point of concern in the society. Equally, the literature indicates that there exist loopholes in the legal framework in the area of gambling marketing. The marketers focus much on what they gain and indirectly encourages irresponsible gambling. For example, the data suggest that more promotional messages are played in the advertisement than the warning content. The literature explains the moderator effect model, whose proposition is that a mediator (government, or gambling companies) can dictate the betting information to be passed across the media. The finding of this study acknowledges a lack of cooperation among the authority, society, and gambling companies in protecting minors from gambling advertisements.
Several limitations were experienced while conducting the present study. One, it was difficult to verify the results of secondary sources. Although reviewing the secondary data provided a broad view of the concept under study, validating whether the stated results were correct was a challenge. Also, it was difficult to investigate aspects such as causality, as the study relied on qualitative method of research. There was no direct interaction with participants, which left room for assumptions.
The significance of current research is to highlight deficiencies that have occurred in the gambling industry in terms of following the set-out policies of marketing. As a recommendation to the government, enforcement of the existing laws should be emphasized. The gambling companies should be compelled to perform data verification of the gamblers, and regularly provide the report to the authorities for scrutiny. The modern technologies such as Big data and Google analytics have the capability of establishing the description of the gambler. In several instances, the gamers are required to provide personal information such as age, and identity number, so as to register in online gambling sites. These information is stored in individual company’s database, and can be extracted whenever needed. The reason of collecting the data, according to Watts et al. (2018) is to assist in curtailing the minors from gambling. Also, the countries should come up with an international law on online betting, which is an area less looked into. Each country has its localized precepts, which are not applicable in other states, thus giving the operators the freedom to push marketing content globally. The present research has focused on the moral aspect of gambling marketing content. Further research should be conducted to evaluate how gambling companies are affected by displaying warning messages in their advertisements.
Appendix
| Title/Author/Year | Aim of study | Methodology | Results | Recommendation/limitation |
| Title: An examination of internet and land-based gambling among adolescents in three Canadian provinces: Results from the youth gambling survey
Author: Elton-Marshall Year:2016 |
Examine the behavior of online and land based gambling among adolescent in Canada. | Qualitative method | Most popular form of gambling was online betting. High proportion of adolescent participated in land-based gambling. Also, 41.6% of females participated in wagering, compared to 47.4% males
|
Although the response rate was high, the study is subject to bias. The study noted that many youths are gambling online, and recommend that further restrictions approaches are needed to limit the youths from developing problem-gambling. |
| Title: Gambling on Big Data: Designing Risk in Social Casino Games
Author: Reynolds Year: 2019 |
The article evaluates the ethical aspect of use of big data by gambling companies to personalize the players. | Qualitative methodology | Game mechanics and big data extracts the data exchanged online by the gamers. They use this information to understand the behavior of the players, thus creating content that meet their needs. | Through casino, young people are exposed to gambling at an early age. There is need for legal protection of the minors from the manipulation of the gambling operators.
The challenge of this study is that the sample involved is not sufficient. |
| Title: Are sports bettors looking at responsible gambling messages? An eye-tracking study on wagering advertisements
Author: Lole et al. Year:2019 |
The study aims to examine how often the responsible gaming messages are viewed by the potential betters, during an advertisement. | Qualitative methodology | Responsible gambling messages were inconspicuously displayed during the advertisements of gambling. | Legal authorities should enforce the operators to visibly present the messages of responsible gambling. |
| Title: The impact of pop-up warning messages of losses on expenditure in a simulated game of roulette
Author: McGivern et al. Year: 2019 |
The study compares the impacts of expenditure- specific messages and generic message in regards to gambling industry | Qualitative methodology | Expenditure-specific messages lowered the amount collected in wagering activities. | Expenditure- specific messages can ameliorate the harmful gambling behavior. The author suggests that use of these messages should be implemented in the gaming industry as a tool to regulate gambling for minors. |
| Title: Mobile gambling among youth: A warning sign for problem gambling?
Author: Zhao et al. Year :2018 |
The study assessed the prevalence of betting among the adolescent, and the possibility of developing problem-gambling. | Qualitative methodology | Regular online gamblers had a higher chance of developing problem-gambling. Also , 7.5 % of the adolescent were reported to be at risk of developing gambling related challenges. | The current study has the limitation in regards to data. The data is collected from one region(US), hence generalization of the findings require further examination. The study suggest that parental awareness about youth gambling can potentially discourage the trend at the family level. |
| Title: Commercial gambling advertising: Possible impact on youth knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behavioral intentions
Author: Korn et al. Year:2005 |
The study examined the potential impacts of gambling on youths. | Mixed methodology | The youths reported to be familiar with gambling marketing slogans. Youths reported to continue with gambling despite knowing of the risks. | The sample was not random, thus rendering the sample non-representative. The study suggests the need of having stricter policies in prohibiting operators from involving the minors. Also, media should take the lead role in training the youths on dangers of irresponsible gambling. |
| Title: Exposure to gambling advertising and adolescent gambling behavior. Moderating effects of perceived family support.
Author: Parrado-Gonzalez and Leon-Jariego. Year:2020 |
The author hypothesized a model to determine the effect of increased advertising messages to frequency of gambling. | Quantitative methodology | Frequent gambling contributes to the problem-gambling. Also , the findings confirms that adolescent with high support from the family members developed negative attitude towards gambling. | The study utilized cross-sectional data, thus, it is not clear whether continued viewing of advertisement results to gambling. The paper suggests that identification of psychosocial mediators, which are targeted by advertisements, would assist in suppressing the need to participate in gambling. |
| Title: Responsible gambling in practice: A case study of views and practices of Swedish oriented gambling companies
Author: Forsstrom, and Cisneros-Ornberg Year:2019 |
The aim of the study is to compare the view of non-licensed and licensed gamble operators in regards to problem gambling | Qualitative method-case study | Non-licensed operators have adopted a strategy of following the behavior of the gamers, compared to the licensed operators. Both licensed and non-licensed operators rely on the instructions from the authorities, to counter irresponsible gambling. They claim that the responsible measures published in their website are enough for personal precautions. | The data is limited to Sweden; hence the applicability of the finding cannot be generalized. The author recommends on the need for conducting a further research on how the gambling operators have adapted to legislations. |
| Title: Online Gambling Advertising Regulations in Spain. A Study on the Protection of Minors.
Author: Buil et al. Year:2015 |
The article examines gambling marketing regulations, for protection of youth against betting. | Qualitative method-Phenomenological | The author demonstrates that gambling advertising increases the appeals to the youths. Also, weak legal framework leaves the minors vulnerable to manipulation by operators. | The author proposes that the government should enforce the available gambling policies to protect children from addiction of gambling. |
| Title: Minors and gambling regulation.
Author: Carran Year: 2013 |
The paper determines the loopholes in the British legal framework regarding gambling marketing. It elaborates on the enforcement deficiencies. | Qualitative | The government has failed to enforce the gambling laws leaving the industry open to all. Study illustrated that there was an increase of gambling shops. | The paper advocates the need for licensing the operators, to minimize the proliferation of the gambling shops. The limitation of this study is that it is localized, and the suggested policies might not work in others countries. |
| Title: Does self-efficacy moderate the effect of gambling advertising on problem gambling behaviors?
Author: Quinn et al. Year :2019 |
The study aimed to establish whether self- efficacy had impact on the negative repercussions of advertising on problem gamblers. | Mixed methodology | Out of the 198 participants, 12% were reported to have moderate-risk of problem gambling, while 18% had high risk. Also, the study discloses that those who were aware of the impacts of gambling advertisements had severe gambling-problem. | The researcher recommends that rehabilitation centers to screen their patients for problem-gambling, and shun them from continued betting advertisements. |
