Courier Mail – A protest group wanting to stop sports betting ads during broadcasts has threatened to launch a children’s gambling app unless laws to stop them are enforced. The dummy site Sim Bet “Sports Betting Fun for the Whole Family” has been set up by a group calling itself SimBet to show how it would make good on its threat if the Federal Government did not act by a February deadline. But welfare workers and gambling academics have warned against the strategy because it could backfire and encourage gambling.
The site features so-called endorsements from children such as “Me and my dad had fun betting together and watching football. Luke S, 7 years old.”, “At first I wasn’t very good at winning, but in the end I won lots! David B, 5 years old.” and “SimBet made watching football with my dad way more fun! I won! James B, 6 years old.”
When contacted by The Advertiser yesterday the group issued a written statement that: “We were simply fed up with the amount of sports betting advertising on TV – especially during live sports and sports shows like “The Footy Show”. “It is impossible to tell what sort of effects this type of advertising will have on children as they grow up, so we thought we would create a simulated betting platform so kids will at least be “experienced” and “educated” when they can legally gamble.
