1. Parents, peers, or promotion
Parents, peers, or promotion? Which factors are the most influential in shaping children’s attitudes towards gambling?
Hannah Pitt
PhD candidate A/Prof Samantha Thomas, Amy Bestman, Prof Mike Daube, and Prof Jeffrey Derevensky

2. DECLARATIONS AND Acknowledgments
PhD scholarship via an ARC Discovery Grant.
The research team receive funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.
No conflicts of interest to declare.

3. PAPER
Pitt, H., Thomas, S., Bestman, A., Daube, M. & Derevensky, J Factors that influence children’s gambling attitudes and consumption intentions: Lessons for gambling harm prevention research, policies and advocacy strategies. Harm Reduction Journal. 14(11):1-12.

4. Background: Gambling in Australia
Gambling is a public health problem that has many health, social and economic consequences, that impacts on individuals, families and communities. [1]
Sports betting is one of the few gambling product that has seen an increase in participation rates. [2]
Increases due to accessibility of products and the saturation of environments with sports betting marketing.

5. EXAMPLES OF BETTING ADS IN AUSTRALIA

7. Background: Children and gambling
Many children will have gambled formally or informally before the age of 18 years. [3]
75% of children believe that gambling is a normal or common part of sport. [4]
High level of brand recognition and recall. [4,5]
Describe gambling as fun, exciting and a way to win easy money. [6,7]

8. Consumer Socialisation
Defined as:
“process by which young people acquire skills, knowledge and attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the market place” -Ward [1974]
The three socialising agents explored: media, family and peers. [8]

9. Aim
This study aimed to explore children’s gambling attitudes and consumption intentions and the range of consumer socialisation factors that may influence these attitudes and behaviours.

10. Method: Sample and Recruitment
48 children aged 8-16 years.
Self identified AFL fans.
Recruitment
Convenience sampling was initially used to recruit parents from community networks.

11. Method: Data Collection
Face to face interviews with children.
A semi structured interview format, with questions relating to:
Current gambling behaviours.
Gambling product popularity.
Current and future gambling consumption intentions.

12. Method: Data Analysis
Transcripts were uploaded to QSR NVivo, which was used for data management.
Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Data analysis occurred throughout the data collection period.

13. Results: Sample 48 children from 30 families.
Majority of children were boys (n=41, 85. 4%).
Similar number of 8-11 year olds (n= 23, 47.9) and year olds (n=25, 52.1%).
Just under 40% (n=19, 39.6%) had indicated they had ever gambled (formally or informally).

14. Results: Popular product
Sports betting, lotteries and horse betting were the most popular forms of gambling.
Sport and horse betting was popular because of the marketing children had seen and lots of people watch sport.
Lotteries were popular because only a small amount of money was needed to participate.

15. Results: Gambling behaviours
A third of children (n= 17, 35.4%) selected sports betting as the gambling product they would most like to try.
Over 35% (n=18, 37.5%) of children wanted to try gambling in the future. A fifth of children (n=12, 25.0%) wanted to try gambling now and in the future.
A third of children had no desire to gamble (n=16, 33.3%).

16. Results: Role of marketing
Children described sports betting marketing as depicting gambling as “easy” and “fun”.
Children were particularly influenced by the risk reducing promotions such as ‘cash’ or ‘money’ back.
Maybe if they had a deal or an ad and I think ‘oh I could get my money back if I do something or get heaps of money, then I might do it’
10-year-old girl

17. Results: Knowledge and alignment with sport
Children described gambling on sports and horses as a normal and accepted activity.
Children thought that because they were fans of sport, and were knowledgeable they had a better chance of winning.
Well if you know a lot about the game you can
usually pick the team that you reckon would win and
then probably the best kick at goal.
8-year-old boy

18. Results: Family and peer influences
The role of family and peers was not as prominent in children’s responses as other factors.
However some were more likely to say that they would like to try gambling because their family gambled.
A few children thought peer pressure might influence children to gamble.

19. Discussion
Sports betting marketing was one of the most influential factors in the development of children’s gambling attitudes and behaviours.
Children as young as 8 years old indicated a desire to gamble in the future.
Children believed sports betting was the most popular gambling product, adding further evidence that it is becoming normalised.

20. Proposed Australian Ad Ban
This is a great first start, however there are still many regulatory loopholes.
The ban will only cover live sporting events.
Loophole has not been closed that allows gambling advertisements during children’s viewing hours.
Children still exposed to advertising during sport after 8 30pm.

21. Conclusion
There are a number of socialisation agents that are influencing children. However marketing and promotions appear to have a very significant impact.
Other countries should learn from Australia and intervene early to ensure children are protected and not exposed to sports betting advertising.

22. References
1. Thomas SL, Thomas SD The big gamble: The need for a comprehensive research approach to understanding the causes and consequences of gambling harm in Australia. Australasian Epidemiologist; 22(1): Hare S Study of Gambling and Health in Victoria. Victoria, Australia: Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. 3.Delfabbro PH, Winefield AH, Anderson S Once a gambler–always a gambler? A longitudinal analysis of gambling patterns in young people making the transition from adolescence to adulthood. International Gambling Studies; 9(2):151– Pitt H, Thomas SL, Bestman A, Stoneham, M & Daube M “It's just everywhere!” Children and parents discuss the marketing of sports wagering in Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 40: Pitt, H, Thomas, SL & Bestman A Initiation, influence, and impact: adolescents and parents discuss the marketing of gambling products during Australian sporting matches. BMC Public Health; 16, Thomas S, Pitt H, Bestman A, Randle M, Stoneham M & Daube M Child and parent recall of gambling sponsorship in Australia. Victoria, Australia: Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. 7. Derevensky J, Sklar A, Gupta R & Messerlian C An empirical study examining the impact of gambling advertisements on adolescent gambling attitudes and behaviors. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction; 8: Ward S Consumer socialization. Journal of Consumer Research; 1(2):1–14.