Betting the Over on Online Youth Sports Gambling
In my household every Sunday night at 7 pm eastern, my family and I would always turn on AMC to tune into the newest episode of The Walking Dead. We would all huddle up in the living room with popcorn preparing to either get our hearts broken or be scared out of our minds. This tradition lasted for a couple of years when the show was still airing weekly. As time went on and commercial run time increased, I began to notice that the amount of advertisements for sports books and sports betting in general increased tremendously. Promotions flashing in bright colors to join their sports betting service consistently played during each four minute commercial break. Even though the Walking Dead is not necessarily a show for children, there is definitely still a younger audience that enjoys the show and hence watches these sports betting advertisements from it as well. From this, I had to make sure that at least children television channels were not infected with these unethical advertisements.
As I began to engulf myself in more channels for curiosity, I noticed that there were still sports betting commercials on children channels such as Nickelodeon. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; how can children channels allow an addictive product be broadcasted to our youth generation? This thought of mine made me question how little restriction there is on advertisements for an addictive product like gambling on sports.
Have you personally seen an advertisement on social media or even on your television about getting a 100% match deposit on a sportsbook if you sign up with their company today? It is even ethical for these sports betting companies to advertise these products in places where younger audiences can be easily influenced? These advertisements might appear in the most random of places yet are still seen on almost every aspect of the internet. From television to social media, the sports betting industry has seen a massive increase in users per day from advertising. The online sports betting community has become a large industry where an extensive amount of money is being spent on marketing and advertising. A main factor of these marketing and advertising strategies involve purposely displaying their product for younger audiences so that they become more familiar with sports betting. When younger viewers continue to see these advertisements flashing before their eyes in bright and friendly colors, it is almost certain that they will become aware of the product and eventually become addicted to gambling on sports. The addiction of sports betting and gambling in general is enough for society to realize the dangers that can potentially be caused on our younger generation. Therefore, whether it be through social media, influencer sponsorships or other strategies, it is clear that these sports betting companies target the youth to be hooked on their product.
It is common for sports betting companies to advertise their product on platforms where there is little to no age restriction. This allows a variety of viewers to see their product and allows a larger range of potential customers specifically on the younger side. It was even said by an adolescent brain development professor that, “Youth are at an increased risk for sports gambling because of the brain’s development… This part of the brain is responsible for making good decisions.” Johanesson argues that the younger a sports bettor is, the earlier on they will become addicted to gambling and worse off they will be. These sports betting companies commonly target a younger audience to seek and create more lifelong customers. Strategies like such hope to establish loyality to their brand which will carry into these children’s adulthood which is sickening. Therefore, multiple companies are essentially competing with each other on who can hook the most amount of the younger age groups in order to secure more revenue in the future. Hence, major sport betting companies such as Fanduel, DraftKings, and Barstool Sports attempt to advertise their product to younger audiences taking advantage of the fact that they will become hooked and addicted on gambling. Although difficult to observe, these companies discretely create a classification of their potential audience regardless of morals. These ‘invisible’ classifications influence how we live our life to be normalized. In this case, sports betting companies clearly advertise for our youth rather than those responsible to gamble.
Another factor that shows that our youth is being targeted by major sports betting companies is the fact that it has been normalized as a society. This normalization has been a result of the lack of restriction from sports betting advertisements as well as how easy our youth has access to sports betting content. A primary concern with the normalization of gambling on sports is the fact that our youth will begin to see it as a normal part of life without seeing its consequences. In fact, the younger a person is when they bet on sports, the more likely they are to develop a gambling problem. One example of sports betting being normalized is the fact that social media influencers create unrestricted communities where members can discuss and advise others about bets. A community known as the ‘Book It Sports’ community streams every day on the platform Twitch where viewers watch social media influences give sports betting advice for free. On the live stream platform Twitch, there is little restrictions when creating an account. Considering that a user has to be a certain age to place bets and that communities like such do not restrict access based on age, it creates an ethical issue. It is also important to note that many of these communities benefit from the amount of members apart of their community and therefore allow anyone to join. When social media influences give sports betting advice, it inadvertently encourages the younger audience to participate since it seems like an easy way to make money. This scummy way on making a living is having a serious impact of the youth of this generation. Hence, this unrestricted access to participate in sports betting needs to be stopped or at least fixed in a way that allows members to be an appropriate age.
Another way that sports betting companies purposely target younger people is through sponsorships with celebrities. Similar with social media influencers, celebrities are commonly promoting sports betting agencies. They often give followers a promotion or discount if they join a sports betting company that they are sponsered by. An example of this is the fact that the company MGM paid a lot of money for Jamie Foxx to promote their product. Although I respect Jamie for getting a bag, it has a negative effect on the younger fans of his. When viewers see a commercial with Jamie Foxx winning a thousands dollars in as little as three clicks, it gives the viewers the impression that sports betting is a valid way of financial benefit. As said earlier, our youth can be influenced in many ways that can bring harm to them and those around them. Celebrities giving the impression that sports betting has no repercussions is slowly killing our younger generation. People who glamorize celebrities with partipate and follow every little thing that celebrity does. In Jamie Foxx’s case, glamorizers of him will definitely sign up for Bet MGM and eventually lose money because of how difficult it is to profit on sports betting. It also shows the normalization of risk taking through these celebrity endorsements. As I keep reiterating throughout this post, the mind of our youth can be mended very easily and the fact that celebrities and others have little to say or care about their influences in astonishing.
So as you read the concerns that I have about how little we are doing as a society to prevent our children to being exposed by addictive products like sports betting, I hope that you realize that you can spread its awareness. Although I agree that these companies have a right to advertise their products, it is without a doubt that I believe that these advertisements need to be regulated in a manner that children and younger viewers aren’t exposed to sports betting as it has its addictive nature. The fact of the matter is that our youth is being exposed to harmful ideologies and products in general regardless of it being sports betting and we as a society need to regulate what we show our children.
