The Impact of Marketing on the Normalisation of Gambling and Sport for Children and Young People

Abstract

Gambling is well-recognised as a significant public health threat. However, current responses to gambling still primarily focus on individualised responsible gambling paradigms, which neglects to consider the range of commercial and political determinants that contribute to gambling harm and how it might influence young people's gambling attitudes and consumption intentions. This includes the marketing tactics used by the gambling industry to normalise harmful gambling products as embedded in everyday life, including in sport. Young people have demonstrated an in-depth gambling brand awareness and can even recall specific strategies used in gambling advertising that might appeal to children. There have been continuous calls for action to protect children and young people from the commercial marketing of gambling products from a range of stakeholders, including young people and their parents. Young people and their parents are very supportive of increased regulations on gambling advertising, particularly during sport, and have called for sporting teams and codes to reject sponsorship deals with gambling companies. However, a heavy reliance on industry self-regulation has meant that governments across the world have decided that the costs associated with exposing children and young people to pervasive gambling marketing are outweighed by perceived benefits that gambling provides to businesses benefiting financially from gambling. Comprehensive curbs on marketing, as seen in tobacco, are required to significantly reduce young people's exposure to gambling advertising and ultimately prevent the next generation of harm.

Citation

Pitt, H., McCarthy, S. and Thomas, S. (2023), "The Impact of Marketing on the Normalisation of Gambling and Sport for Children and Young People", McGee, D. and Bunn, C. (Ed.) Gambling and Sports in a Global Age (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 18), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420230000018011