A group of anti-gambling campaigners in Australia is threatening to launch a simulated sports betting website and mobile app specifically designed for kids as young as five years old. SimBet.com offers a tongue-in-cheek mission statement that sports betting is “only a problem for people that are no good at it!” Since “chances are that our kids are going to give it a go at some point,” SimBet feels duty bound to “teach our children about sports betting from a young age.”
SimBet says it will launch its “innovative and child-friendly” site/app in February, offering “Sports Betting Fun for the Whole Family.” The SimBet site claims its app will be “100% Educational” in that kids not only learn valuable betting lessons, “they also become maths geniuses!”
The site features gag testimonials from children as young as five years old saying things like “at first I wasn’t very good at winning, but in the end I won lots!” Reaction to the site has been mixed, with some suggesting the humor is too subtle for kids to understand they’re meant to be learning about the supposed evils of gambling. (Others might suggest that keeping kids entirely in the dark on gambling is equally ill-advised and compare gambling education with sex education: it’s out there, here are the facts, now go live your life… Just keep a sharp eye on your marbles.)
An anonymous Simbet spokesman told The Advertiser that the group was “simply fed up with the amount of sports betting advertising on TV,” in particular during live sports broadcasts and sports-themed programming. Because the effect of this advertising on kids is unknown, SimBet decided to create “a simulated betting platform so kids will at least be ‘experienced’ and ‘educated’” when they’re old enough to legally gamble. That said, the spokesman copped that the “initial purpose” of the site was to “create a huge outrage on social media that would force changes” in sports betting advertising regulations.
THINKING OF THE CHILDREN
Sports betting adverts have generated no shortage of controversy in Australia in recent years. The ubiquity of Tom Waterhouse and other Aussie bookies during televised sports events led former Prime Minister Julia Gillard to threaten a total betting ad ban if broadcasters didn’t rein in their live odds promotion. Last June, Waterhouse was further abused by a joint select committee, during which it was claimed kids were being “normalized” to sports betting by adverts and stadium signage.
Australia’s anti-gambling campaigners have proven less than shy about using children to make their points. In December, the South Australian government was forced to halt its billboard campaign linking social gaming with kids gambling after online game proponents pointed out the PSA’s slogan that “gambling starts with games” had no basis in fact.
DROP THE ADVERTISING BUDGET AND NO ONE GETS HURT
SimBet has launched a Twitter feed via which the group insisted that “we love betting ourselves but the advertising is too much.” The @SimBetcom account made it clear that their February launch would only take place “if sports betting advertising continues the way it’s going.” SimBet further stressed its blackmail bona fides by saying its betting site is “100% ready to launch but we’ll shut it down if sports betting ads are removed from live sports.”
People have questioned whether SimBet’s organizers have the technological wherewithal to produce a simulated betting site, but they insist their betting technology was “made by people who donated their time & services for the cause.” Initially, the betting will be limited to Australian Football League and National Rugby League matches and but the site will appeal to “anyone wanting to bet for bragging rights against their mates instead of risking their cash.” (Entirely speculative conspiracy theory: Simbet is just another bog standard social sports betting company attempting to make a name for itself via a truly trollish guerrilla marketing campaign.)
SimBet also insists that it’s not really breaking new ground because “gambling sims have been targeting kids for a long time. This is just the first to involve sports betting.” Social slots and casino games have come under fierce criticism in Australia from anti-gambling campaigners such as independent Sen. Nick Xenophon for allegedly “grooming” kids for real-money gambling. Since kids will be allowed – encouraged, even – to make pseudo sports bets via SimBet, it will be very interesting to see if Xenophon is equally critical of the site if/when it launches.
For the record, SimBet claims to have been inspired by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation‘s ‘KidBet’ ad campaign, which debuted in October and included commercials like the one below. Within weeks of its appearance during Aussie prime-time TV, Australia’s Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) upheld viewer complaints about the ad, saying it had contravened “prevailing community standards on health and safety” by suggesting betting was “an activity that could and should be enjoyed by children.”
