Australian gambling addicts targeted by betting sites

[The Buzz]

Gamblers in Australia who were searching online for help with their addiction have been targeted by gambling advertising, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The users were using search engine Bing. When searching for terms such as "gambling treatment," "gambling help" and "gambling helpline" adverts from various online betting sites, including PointsBet, would appear, violating the country’s advertising standards.

The advertisements were also displayed when a person searched for treatment at a specific facility, including at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney.

From the article:

On Tuesday, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age alerted Microsoft and gambling website PointsBet to advertisements appearing on searches for treatment programs.

A PointsBet spokesperson said it “deeply regretted” the ads for its website had been displayed for those searches and had taken steps with Microsoft to rectify the situation.

“An internal review of our account shows this was limited to very few search terms, and that no one engaged with the advertisements through the searches,” they said.

A Microsoft spokesperson said it took user safety seriously and had removed the PointsBet ad.

“Unfortunately, sometimes ads like this make it through our detection mechanisms,” they said. “When we become aware of these instances, we take action to remove them as soon as possible.”

However, while the PointsBet ads were gone by Wednesday and searches for “gambling treatment” no longer displayed ads, searches for “help” or a “helpline” instead returned ads for other online gambling services, including Neds, Ladbrokes and Palmerbet.

Read more here: https://www.smh.com.au/national/punt...10-p5b8p3.html

[Cash Bonus]

This isn't surprising, to say the least!

Of course, they'll target them and they'll target anyone they can get their filthy hands on!

[rmeeuwsen]

“Unfortunately, sometimes ads like this make it through our detection mechanisms,” they said. “When we become aware of these instances, we take action to remove them as soon as possible.”

Sure, just take action on the specific complaint, but do not do any further than just addressing the immediate PR issue.

[PlayWell19]

Eeeep! That's messed up.

[Pokerface]

Wow, thought they would have had that solved by now. Did search using same search terms in Canada and all good. Changed VPN to Australia and ad still appears.

https://gyazo.com/da139b4f5474672413d14cc47fade8c5