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UK News

'Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for those who damage children': Christian charity speaks out on gambling ads

by Tola Mbakwe

CARE has been responding after GambleAware said the influx of marketing campaigns is putting young people at risk of addiction.

The awareness group also warned the current watershed for certain television ads may not be tough enough after it found the average age of children watching post-watershed TV is 11.

Nola Leach, CEO of Christian advocacy charity CARE told Premier advertisements have normalised gambling for young children which can having damaging effects.

She said: "A lot of the advertising comes with celebrities talking about how easy it is to gamble and children and young people identify with the celebrity.

"There's the whole culture that you can get something for nothing and the dangers that come with that are very worrying.

"I think it is this normalisation that gambling is seen as part of sport, you enjoy sport, you enjoy having a bet on that sport and you can gain something from it."

Figures from Nielsen show the gambling industry has spent £1.4 billion on advertising since 2012 and £312 million in the last year alone.

Writing in The Times, Kate Lampard, chairwoman of GambleAware said: "As a society, we should be concerned about the rising risk of harm from wider access and more regular participation in gambling on future generations, resulting in a possible public health crisis in gambling addiction."

Leach told Premier that both parents and gambling companies should take responsibility of ad exposure to kids.

She said: "Any parent with a child is going to be concerned about what they are watching and what they are seeing and the effect on them.

"But we know that young people and children can have access to material when parents aren't around so that's where the responsibility is with the internet companies."

She suggested having a government age verification requirement system on for online gambling companies so those underage are barred from gambling.

Lampard said broadcasters were working with GambleAware to address concerns, but called on Google, Facebook, newspapers, professional sports clubs and sporting venues to also do more.

However, Leach told Premier the Church should also get involved.

She said: "Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for those who damage children and this something that is incredibly damaging.

"It's something we all need to be thinking about. We need to protect our young people because they are very special."

Listen to Nola Leach speaking with Premier's Tola Mbakwe here:

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