Advertising Gambling To Esports Audiences Is Deeply Immoral
In the blog post, we see the word “responsibly” showing up several times. Riot reaffirms its commitment to allowing gambling money into its esports scene in a responsible way throughout the statement, but the only way to “responsibly” engage with sports betting is to not do it at all. Gambling addiction is a mental disorder in DSM-5, and can have real, tangible effects on people’s lives, includinglinks to higher suicide risk. Esports fans who have gambling addictionswillbe exposed to triggers as a result of this policy change.
This Could Be A Slippery Slope
Again, Riot does insist that it will keep official channels betting-free, but fans seem to believe this is a slippery slope, and I’m inclined to agree. Profit is the great motivator, and after the presence of betting companies has been normalised, I would be dismayed but not surprised if gambling ads do eventually begin showing up in streams. It simply feels naive to think that a profit-driven company would not, if it increased revenues, allow gambling companies to advertise on official streams if its audience wouldn’t push back. After all, it already directly allows gambling in its games through loot boxes and gacha mechanics.
Regular sports, like the Premier League, arealready heavily inundated with gambling ads.
