The gambling industry is targeting adverts at players of Fantasy Premier League, an online football game that is open to children, the BBC has found.

Betting firms are increasingly sponsoring websites that are associated with the popular game, known as FPL.

We found gambling ads and promotions on some of the biggest FPL-related podcasts and social media feeds.

An MP who chairs a group on gambling said the industry was trying to “infiltrate” sites used by children.

Carolyn Harris MP, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Related Harm, described our findings as “deeply concerning”.

In FPL, players pick a team of footballers and earn points based on their real-world performances. They compete in a global leader board and can play against friends and family in private leagues.

Anyone over 13 can play FPL – if you’re under 13, you need a parent or guardian’s permission.

There is no data on the exact number of children who play FPL. Professor Luke Wilkins at La Trobe University, who has researched fantasy sports extensively, estimates that 45% of the adults signed up are under 30.

The game is run by the Premier League but has a huge community of independent content creators who earn a living sharing tips and tools online. The Premier League does not run these sites or podcasts.

The BBC found that The FPL Wire, one of the biggest FPL podcasts, has regularly featured adverts for Fairplay Exchange, a new company that lets people place personal bets against each other. FPL Wire declined to comment.

Another independent website, Fantasy Football Scout, has carried promotional articles for Bet 365 this month, encouraging readers to sign up to a fantasy football-themed game with a prize pool of £500,000. The website and Bet 365 did not respond to a request for comment.

Guidelines from the Advertising Standards Authority require gambling ads to “not appeal strongly to under-18s” especially by “being associated with youth culture”.

Last year the ASA ruled that a Ladbrokes ad breached its code because it featured Premier League footballers, Philippe Coutinho, Jesse Lingard and Kalidou Koulibaly who would be well known to children.

A spokesperson for FPL said: “Fantasy Premier League is made free for all users to ensure that any fan has the ability to take part.

“When we become aware of an infringement of this principle, or any other aspect of our terms and conditions, we will take appropriate action.

“These terms and conditions prohibit mini-leagues being created for commercial purposes and we reserve the right to delete the mini-league and suspend or delete the registration of any player who is the administrator of, or a participant in, the mini-league without liability.”

Fantasy Football Fix is a major independent FPL website with over 400,000 users. It says it provide users with tips and data, including using artificial intelligence to optimise fantasy teams.

The site now has a no-gambling-ads policy but has struck deals with betting companies in the past, and explained to the BBC how one of them worked.

Its business model relies on users paying for premium content on the best strategies for winning on FPL. A betting company offered users free access to Fantasy Football Fix premium content if they also opened a betting account with them and deposited £5.

For each new customer referred to the betting company, it paid Fantasy Football Fix £90.

Tom Fleming, from the charity Gambling with Lives, says the BBC’s findings are “shocking, but not surprising”.

He believes the gambling industry sees the FPL community as “fertile ground” for the “next generation of customers and addicts”.

Plucky is another new site that allows players to set wagers using their official Fantasy Premier League team.

A few weeks ago it was being promoted on social media by some of the biggest names in the FPL world, who often appear on the Premier League’s official FPL show.

But Plucky has told us that its product is now being assessed by the Premier League for compliance and that its partners have suspended advertising.

It says its product was designed to be compatible, and operate within, the Premier League’s published terms and conditions.

Companies such as Fan Team and Draft Kings are running their own monetised fantasy games that allow enthusiasts to gamble, in a similar format, on a daily basis.

Their adverts have also been commonplace across Fantasy Football Scout’s platforms.

“Daily fantasy sports”, as they’re known, have become hugely popular in the US.

Matt Zarb-Cousin, director of Clean Up Gambling believes “some gambling operators and affiliates have sought to replicate that here by using it to bridge football fans into actual betting”.

The relationship between fantasy sports, like FPL, and gambling is complex.

Academic research in the US suggests playing free fantasy sports makes someone more likely to gamble.

Meanwhile a survey undertaken in Ireland found 25% of Fantasy Football participants met the criteria for internet addiction.

However, we’ve also spoken to several people who say they use Fantasy Premier League as a coping mechanism to manage an existing gambling addiction.

Jamie, not his real name, has rarely bet since 2018 and thinks “FPL is a big part of filling that void”.

When a content creator offered a free entry to Fan Team, he went to sign up. Thankfully it was covered by the self-exclusion scheme GamStop, so he wasn’t able to.

Scout Gaming Group, which runs FanTeam, says the site is licensed under the Gambling Commission. “Fanteam therefore is operating under the UK regulations and do not offer our products to minors or to people who have blocked themselves through Gamstop,” it says.

“If we believe that anyone who we work with is not complying with the rules and regulations of UKGC we will directly inform them about it and if it is not rectified we will, as soon as possible, close the relationship with any such party and aggressively pursue the removal of any offending content.”

Rob also uses GamStop, which stops him seeing betting ads online, but he says: “I can’t avoid seeing things on Twitter involving gambling.

“Personally, I think the big accounts involving FPL and gambling should take a look at themselves.”