The South Australian government has recently pulled its controversial ‘Gambling Starts With Games’ responsible gambling campaign. After complaints that the campaign was defamatory to video game developers, government officials have decided to rename the campaign ‘Gambling Is No Game’. The Gambling Starts With Games campaign was launched in 2013 to raise awareness of underage gambling.

The government claimed that social games could normalize gambling for young people, and warned parents against allowing them to play these types of games. The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association took offense to the campaign and noted that its claims were incorrect.

According to a letter from the IGEA, the posters and billboards were likely to lead viewers to make incorrect assumptions about gaming, including: “That playing games, including tablet computer games, leads to gambling; and that playing simulated gambling games leads to gambling.Both of these representations are inaccurate and unsubstantiated”.

The letter from the association also argues that there is no proof that playing video games and social games as a child will directly lead to gambling addiction as an adult. As such, the billboards and posters that have been designed by the campaign provide inaccurate information about the causes of compulsive gambling.

“The statement on the Billboard is highly inaccurate and the advertisement fails to source any relevant data,” the letter continues. “Furthermore, the existing research simply does not substantiate the statement made on the Billboard.” Now, the tagline of the campaign has been changed, and ‘Gambling is No Game’ continues to warn parents of the dangers of social games and video games that simulate gambling.

There still remains little proof that these types of games will lead children down a dangerous road to gambling addiction, but the campaign wants to ensure that parents do not expose their children to gambling activities from an early age.

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George Anderson
Author George, has over 25+ years’ experience in the Pokies and Casinos industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Loves to research new Pokies games on the block and follows announcements from top industry providers about their upcoming releases. As soon as a new interesting pokie game appears on his radar, George is there to check it out and give you the scoop before anyone else and tell you about all casino sites where can play the latest game. Before this gig, George worked as Pokie game tester, making him an ideal candidate for this genre of work. He is also an animal lover and a proud owner of three dogs.