Spillemyndigheden targets parents with campaign on gambling features in video games

Denmark's gambling authority, Spillemyndigheden, has launched a campaign titled "Casinò nella cameretta" to alert parents to gambling-related elements that children and young people may encounter in video games, according to the authority. The campaign directs parents and professionals to the information platform StyrPåSpillet.dk.

The authority said many children and adolescents play video games as a natural part of daily life, and that several games include mechanisms that can resemble those of gambling. The campaign is intended to draw parents' attention to the content of the games their children use and to encourage dialogue within the family on the subject.

On StyrPåSpillet.dk, parents and professionals can find information about video games, gambling-related elements and gambling addiction, as well as advice on how to raise the topic with children and young people, according to the authority.

The campaign includes a video that conveys the message by transforming a children's bedroom into a casino. The authority has also had three shopfront displays installed: in Aarhus at the Bruuns Galleri shopping centre, in Odense on Vestergade, and in Copenhagen on Købmagergade.

Titled "Casino Kids", the facades have been decorated to look like large advertisements announcing the opening of a casino for children. The authority said these are not real openings: the displays are meant to draw attention to the campaign and remind parents of the importance of taking an interest in the video games their children use and in the gambling-related mechanisms within them.

The campaign will be distributed through Meta, YouTube, TV 2 Play and the portal Folkeskolen.dk.