Child Friendly Slots Games: Why are they still allowed?

The gambling industry, much alike those of alcohol or smoking, is aimed solely at adults. You cannot participate in gambling unless you have proof of your age, and the age has to be 18 or over in the UK. Nevertheless, the argument of what is considered to be gambling is very much debated. While some people say that any tool used in gambling is considered a part of gambling, others claim that gambling isn’t gambling as long as there isn’t money involved – play Ted slot game.

What brings us to the forefront of this argument are the child friendly slots which are readily and widely available. Why are they still allowed? We answer the question in this article. 

Child friendly slots: what are they? 

The phenomenon known as child friendly slots could be many things. Firstly and foremostly, these could be the free slots available online, also known as demo version play. Anyone can access free slots, often without the need to prove your age. An average internet user will have a chance to play many of the most famous slot games for free. All they need to do is go to the developer’s website to try out their games in demo. They could also alternatively google search free slots and choose one of the many casinos offering the service.

Secondly, a child free slot could be a free slot app, where the app does not pay out money but has possible in-app purchases.

Finally, a child friendly slot can be a land-based fruit machine falling under the category D. Children are allowed to play these all around the country in arcades that have the license of FEC (family entertainment centre). 

Why are they still allowed? 

With the new Gambling Act 2021 coming closer to it’s release day in October, child friendly slots do not seem to be affected at all.

It is hard to say why these games for children are still allowed. It is likely to be the case that the low stakes on category D fruit machines are not risky enough to be considered a problem. What the lawmakers are missing here is that no matter the amount of the stake, gambling is highly addictive and shouldn’t be available to young kids. Gambling at a young age is likely to lead to problem gambling later on in life, which is amongst the top causes of bankruptcy, relationship problems, legal problems, poor mental/physical health.

When it comes to free slots and demo version play online, the situation becomes tricky to judge as the demo play in itself offers the chance to explore the game and the possibilities within it. If you are going to spend money playing a slot, you would like to see what the game has to offer before spending money on it right? According to developers this is a birthright of every slot and cannot be abolished. But what about children playing? 

How will the industry change? 

To keep children away from gambling, in the future we might have to prove our age to access any kind of gambling material online. We don’t think that today’s readily available slots are sustainable in the framework of children’s safety. We hope that the land-based child friendly slots will see it’s end as well, as that could save many people’s lives and livelihoods. If we could see an official from BACTA comment on these issues, that could clear up a lot of questions that we might have when it comes to children’s safety. But until that happens, we should keep enquiring about why child friendly slots are still allowed, and we might see the difference soon.