Sweets ‘in slot machines are teaching children to gamble’
FOOD brands were last night accused of ‘indoctrinating children into gambling’ with treats based on slot machines and roulette.
MPs and campaigners were horrified after M&M’s started selling a toy sweet dispenser based on a fruit machine at its flagship London store.
Users are encouraged to pull a lever until they match three colours in a row, causing M&M’s to gush out of the bottom as a jackpot-style ‘reward’. Although the toy does not dispense money, critics said it could ‘normalise gambling’ among youngsters and risked ‘fuelling Britain’s gambling epidemic’.
Pictures of the dispenser were posted on Twitter by Professor Samantha Thomas, an Australian academic and expert in the effects of gambling on children. She said: ‘Combining the winning features of a slot machine with such a wellrecognised candy brand gives children the perception that these are machines that are about wins rather than losses.’
Mars – owner of M&M’s – yesterday said it had decided to remove the dispensers from its stores after MPs from the all-party parliamentary group on gambling wrote to the firm about the dispenser.
A spokesman said: ‘While this product was neither designed to normalise gambling nor to appeal to children, we have listened to the concerns raised.’ As well as M&M’s, the Daily Mail found other brands selling products based on gambling. Kellogg’s recently introduced a brand of breakfast cereal called Krave Choco Roulette. The three chocolate flavours are presented on the front of the packaging like icons on a fruit machine. And Doritos have also sold a brand of ‘roulette’ crisps. The packet features crisps positioned around a roulette wheel with a warning that ‘some of these chips are ultra spicy’.
Labour MP Carolyn Harris, chairman of the parliamentary group, said: ‘ These products are appalling because they are indoctrinating children into gambling.
‘I’m really disappointed in any company that sees gambling as a market strategy.’
PepsiCo, which owns the Doritos brand, said the roulette crisps had recently been discontinued.
And a Kellogg’s spokesman said: ‘Kellogg’s only advertise Krave products to adults, not to children. All our online activities are “age-gated”. We have also not advertised Krave on television since September 2015.’