South Australia’s government has bowed to pressure from the gaming industry by agreeing to take down billboards that claimed social gaming encouraged children to take up gambling later in life. The public service announcements – which featured images of a young girl playing on her iPad at a felt-covered gaming table covered with playing cards and casino chips – were based around the tagline that ‘gambling starts with games.’ The billboards directed consumers to a website that claimed online social games were a gambling feeder system because they gave kids “the opportunity to practice gambling.”
The billboards incurred the wrath of the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA), which noted that the campaign flouted the government’s own advertising guidelines requiring that all such statements “are able to be substantiated.” This week, Premier Jay Weatherill copped to the fact that the campaign’s claims had been based on questionable research and would be removed. “We acknowledge that immediately and we’re remedying that.” Weatherill’s climbdown may represent a victory for gamers, but the victory will likely be short-lived. Australia as a whole is taking a dimmer view of gambling advertising these days, but South Australia has staked out a commanding lead in equating gambling with known carcinogens.
ENDEMOL TAKES $13M STAKE IN PLUMBEE
In other positive social gaming news, Netherlands-based television production company Endemol – the firm behind such mind-numbing but hugely successful televisual pablum as Big Brother and Deal or No Deal – has taken a $13m investment in social gaming outfit Plumbee, the UK-based company behind the popular Mirrorball Slots. Existing Plumbee investor Idinvest Partners have also upped their stake in Plumbee, with the latest round of fundraising boosting Plumbee’s value to $40m.
Plumbee CEO Raf Keustermans said the deal would see Endemol become “a strategic shareholder” and would allow Plumbee to tap into Endemol’s “international network and globally recognized brands … to develop a new generation of premium social games.” Endemol has previously dipped into the gambling pool by licensing Deal or No Deal to live dealer casino specialists Evolution Gaming, while Plumbee has a real-money gambling joint venture with Unibet dubbed Bonza Gaming.
