Shocked parents: Ladbrokes ads on baby monitor app
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7 Feb 2025 •
Reading time: 3 minutes Parents using the baby monitoring app YCC365 Plus recently discovered, to their great surprise, advertisements for Ladbrokes, a well-known betting company. This discovery triggered a wave of outrage and reignited the debate on gambling advertisement regulations.
Unexpected ads on a baby monitor app
YCC365 Plus is an app designed to remotely monitor homes through connected cameras. Compatible with various IP camera models, this app allows real-time viewing of camera footage, offering features such as night vision, motion alerts, and video recording. It is widely used by parents to watch over their infants and is presented as a reliable technological solution for home security.
However, some users reported the appearance of Ladbrokes advertisements, including offers like a “£30 welcome bonus.”
Tom Fleming, a concerned parent and communications advisor for the association Gambling with Lives, expressed his shock:
“Watching my baby on camera with a gambling ad visible just feels wrong. It’s something that’s there to keep my child safe but it’s also feeding through a stream of offers for harmful free bets and the like.”
Reactions from activists and politicians
This situation sparked strong reactions from activists and political figures. Lord Don Foster stated:
“The whole system of gambling adverts in this country is now completely out of control, showing the inadequacy of government regulation and of the self regulatory body overseeing it.”
Will Prochaska, from the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, added:
“Targeting exhausted parents is yet another predatory tactic of the gambling industry, which makes most of its money from people it harms.”
Entain, Ladbrokes’ parent company, responded to the criticisms by stating that the YCC365 Plus app is a “home surveillance camera system” and therefore not intended for individuals under 18.
A spokesperson for Entain said:
“We have compliance processes in place to help ensure that our adverts do not appear on apps that are targeted at anyone under the age of 18.”
A recurring problem in the gambling industry
This is not the first time an Entain brand has been accused of targeting new parents. In 2023, it was revealed that Coral, a sister company of Ladbrokes, had paid blogs aimed at new mothers to recommend its online casino games and provide links to its website. At the time, Entain stated that these blogs had been published before its acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral and that it did not actively target young mothers through affiliate marketing.
This controversy has reignited calls for stricter regulation of gambling advertisements. Activists argue that more robust laws are needed to protect vulnerable populations from pervasive gambling advertisements. They believe the government should take steps to prevent the gambling industry from targeting vulnerable groups, such as new parents, with potentially harmful ads.
Are there gambling advertisements in Belgium?
In Belgium, legislation surrounding gambling advertisements is among the strictest in Europe. Since July 2023, a near-total ban on such advertisements has been enforced, making it illegal to display them on television, online, in newspapers, or through other media. This measure aims to protect consumers, particularly young people and vulnerable individuals, from the risks of gambling addiction. The Belgian government has also tightened restrictions on sports partnerships to prevent the indirect promotion of betting platforms.