Government urged to set harsher rules to protect children from ‘Wild West’ gambling ads

Daryl Watson was cooking dinner at his Adelaide Hills home when he heard a strange sound coming from his son’s iPad.

It was the clacking noise of a slot machine’s wheels rolling in an advertisement playing on the eight-year-old’s tablet device, promoting an adult gambling game.

“You couldn’t come up with a better plan really if you’re a gambler – get them while they’re young,” the father-of-two said.

“It’s like having smoking advertising aimed at teenagers.”

While Mr Watson has parental controls on his children’s devices, he discovered even his best attempts at controlling the content they access could be sidestepped thanks to pop up ads that play during children’s games.

“Some of the games seem to be like slot machines — I think, hopefully, I’ve stopped them playing all of those ones, but you do have to keep your eye on it pretty closely or they will slip back into something,” he said.

“They don’t mean to, but they click buttons here and there, and they end up in places [where] you don’t always know what’s going on.”

Rules governing technology’s ‘Wild West’

According to experts, the lack of regulation over what children are being exposed to online is a major concern.

One of the advertisements sighted by the ABC repeatedly playing on a children’s app targeted to four-year-olds up is for a game that is designed like a poker machine. 

Konami Gaming Inc, the company that owns the game being advertised, also manufactures poker machines.

After the ABC supplied footage of the gambling advertisements appearing on children’s games, Konami Gaming said it would take immediate action over the “deeply concerning” situation. 

“Company game content is supplied to land-based and online operators, which are responsible for consumer distribution,” the company said

“The ad footage you provided was in no way purchased, authorised or approved by our organisation.

“The app environment in which the ad appears to have been displayed is deeply concerning.”

Digital democracy organisation Reset Australia is lobbying for governments to take a greater role in stopping harmful content and manipulation through use of personal data.

Reset’s children’s policy director Rys Farthing described the current rules governing technology as the “Wild West”.

“Tech companies have been able to do whatever they want,” Dr Farthing said.

“They’ve really been setting their own rules and their own agenda and we’ve seen some pretty disastrous consequences from that.”

She said it was time for the federal government to intervene to protect children from harm.

“Just as governments have implemented rules around seatbelts in cars and rules around selling tobacco to children, we need a stronger set of rules from government saying: ‘Big tech, you can’t use children’s data in this way. You can’t serve children this content’,” Dr Farthing.

“Self-regulation has not worked so far.”

Dr Farthing said there were explicit and implicit ties to gambling that children were regularly exposed to when they used technology.

Beyond gambling ads playing on kids’ games, the actual design of games and software was heavily influenced by gambling, she said. 

“We see elements of gambling and ads for gambling right across the digital ecosystem,” she said.

“I think Australian people thought we had shielded children from gambling quite some time ago … the digital world has re-presented these risks in childhood and we need to step up.”

Powerful media companies with powerful voices

The Australian Council on Children and the Media reviews apps, providing a rating system to warn parents about gambling and other inappropriate content.

Its president, Elizabeth Handsley, told the ABC that children had trouble understanding advertising.

“Children tend to think advertising is just part of the story and then, when they get a bit older, they know its something a bit different but they don’t understand the persuasive intent behind advertising and the fact the person sending them this message doesn’t want to make their life better. They want their money,” Professor Handsley said.

She said it was a constant challenge to find sources of funding to run the watchdog, because of “powerful media companies with powerful voices” in Canberra.

“Its very hard to get funding bodies to see the importance of this,” she said.

“We have a lot of support from the community generally. We find a way, somehow, because we are very determined.”

Back in the Adelaide Hills, Mr Watson offered some sage advice for parents who are concerned about what their children are accessing.

“If you don’t purchase the app, then you are the product,” he said.

“They have to sell you things within the app and once you are the product … maybe it’s better to pay something for the app in the first place and then the makers have got their money and don’t have to sell you anything extra.”