(AmericanProsperity.com) – A new study has found that four of the leading online gambling brands are routinely breaching their own marketing regulations because of their social media posts, despite the companies targeting others on social media for their posts.
Academics at the University of Bristol found that companies including DraftKings, BetMGM, FanDuel, and ESPN Bet all published more than a thousand posts that did not include a problem with gambling support number or helpline number. This study concludes that the rules set out by the American Gaming Association “are not being followed” by operators on social media.
Gambling is something that’s expanded rapidly across the United States with many states jumping on board to make it legal, sports betting in particular. Operators have looked toward social media to accelerate their growth and encourage users to place bets on their platform.
University of Bristol’s Raffaello Rossi, a lecturer in marketing, said, “It feels like they are doing anything just to get people signing on. This relentless exposure can make gambling seem like a normal activity, increasing participation and risk among young and vulnerable groups.”
A team reviewed over thirteen hundred social media posts by the four companies over the course of one week and found that over one thousand of the posts may have breached the regulations for the American Gaming Association’s marketing code for sports betting.
The AGA said that it was pleased the study had found that the paid ads on social media complied with their code. They continued to say, “However, categorizing all social media posts as ads misses the basics of brand communication.”
The code says it covers “marketing and advertising of real-money sports wagering services,” and the AGA only considers social media posts that directly link to a real-money sports wagering service. For example, FanDuel put out a post talking about a tennis pro knocking Carlos Alcaraz out of the U.S. Open, but there is no direct link to the platform and the post doesn’t offer a gambling helpline number.
The code itself was made to promote responsible gambling and demands that “Each message will contain a conspicuous responsible gaming message along with a toll-free helpline number, where practical.”.
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