Adolescent gambling advertising awareness: A national survey

While influence of gambling advertisements on adolescents in some jurisdictions is recognised as an important public health issue, research examining this influence is currently limited. The present study examined gambling advertising awareness among adolescents, how they perceive gambling advertisement's impact, and how gambling advertisement awareness relates to adolescent's gambling behaviour. A sample of Danish adolescents (n = 1137) aged 12-16 were surveyed using a self-administered web questionnaire. It was found that (a) participants reported high exposure to gambling advertising with males reporting higher exposure to advertising than females, (b) the general self-perceived impact of these advertisements was relatively low, and (c) self-perceived impact of gambling advertising was associated with monetary spending on gambling activities and at-risk or a problematic gambling. Restrictions on gambling advertisements and collaboration between national gambling authorities with social media platforms in order to identify and remove youth-targeted gambling advertisements were specified as relevant policy implications.