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Comment by WendyTheWillow | Hacker News Reader

Is there specific evidence to support the claim that esports betting is targeting kids, or is the presumption that video games = children?

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Yes, there's specific evidence. There's a shit ton of online esports gambling platforms with next-to no age controls. Some of these are prominent tournament and/or team sponsors, and plenty of them advertise through pro players and content creators.

I can't make the case better than HOUNGOUNGAGNE in the video I linked earlier, and a few others:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp5eeNWKgFY

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07QgHRPD0ms

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT17l53Fkj0

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpvePQVscUQ

"Lack of age controls" doesn't mean "targeting kids" though, does it?

And I read the transcripts of the four videos, and I don't see anyone even suggesting the specific or explicit targeting of kids. Some mention of younger teens gambling, but nobody's claiming explicit targeting, as far as I can tell.

My point, though, is the whole, "think of the kids!" argument is often abused to try and prohibit activity that any adult should be free to engage in.

We do have to think of the kids though. They are absolutely our future and will have to be capable of taking over the economy and our issues.

Children are a non negligible demographic of gaming oriented content and are vulnerable to profit seeking corporations and influencers capable of manipulating them. The target towards children is implicit unfortunately.

Targeting doesn't have to be explicit or exclusionary. A gambling operation with no age controls is targeting kids, because who else is the lack of controls bring in?

Sorry but "targeting" implies intent, and negligence is the absence of intent.

from the video its like 8 in 10 youtube/twitch streams on the games: who do you think watches?

Okay, so are we claiming then that video games are for children? That was my original question.

I don't think the claim is video games are (only) for children, but the claim is that a not insignificant number of the viewers/players are children. Advertising cigarettes in a superman comic doesn't mean comics are only for kids.

It does though, if your argument is that the advertising was targeted at kids. Is the argument here that, by virtue of being on a stream about a video game, the advertising is necessarily therefore targeting kids?

Because that's only the case if video games are for kids. If they're not for kids, which is all I hear when I talk to an adult about video games, then it's harder to draw the clear bright line some folks here seem to presume. Or are we now saying adults shouldn't be allowed to gamble too?

so you think loot box gamble mechanics are targeted at adults?

You seem to want to define targeting very narrowly, curious to know what you think about candy cigarettes or a cartoon camel…

Yes, why wouldn't they be?

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