The Guardian has been condemned by the the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) for a story about a Ladbrokes ad appearing on a baby monitor app used by parents.
Specifically looking at the paper’s use of quotes, the BGC took issue with Tom Fleming who ‘appears to be a public affairs and communications manager at campaign group GamblingWithLives’ being quoted by the Guardian as solely ‘a concerned parent’ and his role at the group not being made clear in the article.
Central to the defence of Entain is that the app in question wasn’t seen by anyone under the age of 18, and was strictly targeted towards adults.
A spokesperson from the group added that they have compliance processes in place to “help ensure that adverts do not appear on apps that are targeted at anyone under the age of 18″.
They said that the app in question, YCC365 Plus, is a home monitoring camera system and has therefore “not been deemed to be targeted at under-18s”.
According to his Linkedin, Fleming has worked for GamblingWithLives since September 2021. If it is the case that the person quoted in the article holds the role, there are questions to be answered according to the BGC.
Fleming stated in the article that “Watching my baby on camera with a gambling ad visible just feels wrong. It’s something that’s there to keep my child safe but it’s also feeding through a stream of offers for harmful free bets and the like.
“There’s just no escape from these ads when they’re appearing somewhere as innocuous as this.”
Currently, the CAP Code stated that marketing from gambling operators must not be appealing to children or young persons. This can include imagery or themes that may be seen as particularly enticing to a younger audience.
However, given the baby monitor app in question was only viewed by adults the adverts breached no guidelines.