On The Trail of Neopets - The Investigation Begins
Yesterday I sent of an email to the Legal Department of Neopets Inc. about the gambling content on their site. Today I began my investigation into what others have said about Neopets.
A review on Free-Games.com.au published on July 30 this year said:
It has been my experience, that they do NOT have enough monitors. They have party/dance boards that 9 out of 10 times ends with kids as young as 9, 10, 11-16 talking in an adult way..kissing, frenching, and worse (use your imagination) Parents need to be aware most of these kids lie on the registration form to access the chats or parents sign the forms thinking it is safe. Hardly. I have seen ppl running around with webcams trying to get kids to do things in exchange for Neopoints ( their currency) or rare items. I have personally reported offenders only to see the chat topic go 10 pages without getting pulled by them. I have screenshots to back this up as well. Parents be aware of who your child is chatting with even on a kids site. Other topics range from innocent chatter, to topics like Witchcraft and Vampirism. Inappropriate pictures which thankfully usually get pulled within an hour, to pictures of body parts made with a keyboard which sometimes go on for hours. IMO their chatrooms are anything but kid-friendly.
In the current climate in Australia this is extremely dangerous especially considering the large number of arrests last week on child pornography offences. As a father of a young daughter this is extremely worrying.
The Age recently did an article on Neopets which noted the extremely secretive nature of Neopets Inc.
Shelby's Blog was also surprised by the presence of gambling games.
The Australian Broadcasting Authority found that Neopets was popular with 6-10 year olds.
This site details the games found on Neopets and the descriptions are fairly disturbing.
Black Pawkeet Slots
Select your Neopoints to wager and the number of lines to bet on, and spins the reels. Line up 3, 4, or 5 of the same in a row.
The flag of the Black Pawkeet, the most terrifying pirate ship ever to moor in Krawk Island counts as a wild card, and whats more, get three or more of the normal Pawkeets on the board and you'll get a Scatter Bonus!
Lastly, get three treasure chests and you may win a dubloon in the mini game!
Finally! A game you can win dubloons from!JubJub Black Jack
Neopian spin on the casino favorite. You play against your pet. Same rules as Black Jack: closest to 21 wins. Blackjack pays 50% more than a normal win.
If you like Black Jack then you will probably like this one.
A look through the list of these games shows how Neopets is used simply as a vehicle to promote products to children, and I'm sure that gambling interests have a hand in this. Some examples of product placement include: Disney Movies, Various brands of American Breakfast Cereals, and Mcdonalds (collect the golden arches).
Forms of gambling include: Slot machines and fruit machines, black jack, poker, lottery, scratch tickets/cards, big wheel, bingo, wagering (on races), stock market speculation, craps, dice, keno.
I will continue my investigation and give Neopets Inc. a few more days to respond before stepping up this campaign.
GG
