Minors and internet gambling advertising: new formats, advertising content, and challenges in protecting minors

The aim of this article is to describe the new formats and advertising content used in videos related to gambling on the Internet and minors, and whether these formats are currently regulated or may pose an additional risk to minors. For this study, content analysis of 50 YouTube videos (a total of 574 minutes) was carried out, based on a previous screening of 500 units. We worked with a convenience sample obtained through a systematic search (keywords) followed by the snowball method. Among the most relevant results, it is worth mentioning that the currently approved regulation, the Spanish Royal decree on commercial communications in gaming activity, does not consider advertising content such as tutorials or sports bets, nor various formats or social networks.

Automated summary

This article describes new formats and advertising content used in videos related to gambling and minors on the internet, and questions whether these formats are currently regulated or may pose an additional risk to minors. The study found that the currently approved regulation in Spain does not consider certain advertising content, which could potentially pose risks to minors.