‘Hard Sell, Soft Targets’
Vicki Shotbolt, founder and CEO of Parent Zone, writes that action is urgently needed to protect children and young people from gambling content targeted at them online through games and influencers on livestreams.
Almost all – 97% – of young people game online and over half of them spend money whilst doing so. The majority of parents are unaware that their children are spending in games which means the majority of parents are also unaware of the murky financial practices their children are exposed to. Amongst the most questionable of these practices is the use of gambling like mechanics designed to keep children spending, leveraging techniques the gambling industry has relied on for years.
Parent Zone has been interested in the intersection of gaming and gambling since 2018 when we first investigated skin gambling, a form of betting that generates substantial revenues for companies and individuals who have found ways to circumvent mainstream gambling laws and regulations. We found widespread engagement in skin gambling with around a third of young people being familiar with it and 10% having gambled skins in some form. More recent research for the DCMS shows that the skin gambling industry remains active with 6.9 million unique visits to skins gambling websites recorded in February 2025.
For parents, struggling to stay ahead of the many risks their children face online, exposure to gambling behaviours can feel like a low priority. Screen time, harmful content and other digital harms dominate the public debate when it comes to young people and the internet. But the insidious introduction to gambling that gaming exposes children to is deeply problematic. According to research “Adolescents and young adults who participate in video game microtransaction have been identified as the most susceptible group for problem gambling”. It’s horrifying to think that the innocent digital play your child is enjoying might also be fostering a future problem with gambling.
However the concerns extend beyond the gambling like behaviours that dominate so many popular games. Some of the streaming sites that young people visit are awash with gambling ads, so much so they become part of the wallpaper of digital entertainment. That’s why Parent Zone is pleased to be a member of CEGA. The current laws on gambling ads are letting down parents. Despite clear advertising rules that say children should not be targeted with gambling adverts, the reality is that they are exposed to gambling promotion all the time. Influencers who promote gambling on their live streams, illegal gambling sites that are promoted through recommender sites and of course advertising on the front of football shirts and through the sponsorship of eSports teams. Whilst the actual figure is unknown, the estimated value of Stake’s sponsorship of Vitality, considered to be one of the biggest and most successful esports teams in the world with over 16 million followers on social media, was in excess of £1million per year. The scale of the activity is extraordinary and for parents it is baffling. The hard sell of gambling to under 18’s is completely at odds with what parents understand to be legally possible.
Fortunately for marketers, and very unfortunately for families, the digital world has opened up a route to children that advertising is taking every possible advantage of. According to UNICEF, children are exposed to 1260 adverts a day on social media alone. One researcher estimated that 95% of popular kids apps contain some form of marketing. This hyper commercialised environment entices children to spend using a catalogue of manipulative techniques. Children are incentivized to watch adverts with rewards or tempted to click on sparkling gifts that when clicked, take them to an advert. Influencers are deployed to encourage spending and we know they hold unique power for children who not only believe what they say (and sell) but often aspire to become influencers themselves.
It is unsurprising that this marketing boom has been leveraged to promote gambling. Gambling live streams have exploded in popularity in recent years. Young adults are particularly drawn to these streams. On Kick, a gaming streaming site funded by Stake.com – a gambling company that is banned in the UK but estimated to be worth $2.6 billion worldwide – viewers aged 18 to 34 make up approximately 60% of the platform’s global audience. Many of these viewers are of legal gambling age, creating a perfect storm of accessibility and influence.
The challenge seems daunting but we don’t accept the normalisation of gambling in childhood. Parent Zone is exploring new ways to categorise games such that problematic financial mechanics are clearly surfaced. The work of CEGA demonstrates that there is multi stakeholder support to end gambling advertising. The latest curriculum review makes financial education statutory. Taken together these and many other initiatives point to a system that is being pushed to change. That change can’t come soon enough for families.
Vicki Shotbolt.
Parent Zone’s Tech Shock Podcast in November 2025 features CEGA’s Exec Director Will Prochaska, speaking about the dangers of gambling advertising for young people.