The ACE Family has found themselves in hot water with fans once again.
The controversial family vloggers have been accused of promoting gambling to their young audience several times in recent weeks.
In a May 17th vlog, parents Austin McBroom and Catherine Paiz share that the video is sponsored by Lootie, a company that allows online users to purchase mystery boxes with the chance to win big prizes.
While Lootie claims users can end up saving up to 95% on items like the iPhone, PlayStation 5, and designer sneakers, players may also be paying up to $300 for prizes like a sticker. Payment goes through a dedicated Lootie account, where users top up their funds and pay to spin the virtual prize wheel based on their mystery box preference.
The company brands itself as “an exciting and fast-paced game” and all prizes are allegedly verified.
Given The ACE Family’s massive audience largely made up of children, people took to the comment section to call out Austin and Catherine for this irresponsible sponsorship.
“Yes promote to kids a random gambling website. Staying classy as always,” someone wrote.
“You know the longer you keep this video up, the more people will see this. and the more people will see you for who y’all really are. Sad that you keep deleting the real comments. You guys would make great cult leaders,” wrote another.
“You guys did not even disclose the age requirement to use Lootie which is 18 or older,” said one commenter. “That is a new low for you guys.”
Others have shared their experience with Lootie, warning viewers to stay away from the website.
“DO NOT DO LOOTIE,” one person commented. “It is gambling and you will lose money. Had to try it to see, lost $20. Don’t get scammed into it.”
“There’s a .02% chance to win an iPhone 13, which is 1 in 5,000. 5,000 spins * 2.50 (2.99 – 0.50 sell back) = $12,500 in revenue for Lootie, for a single iPhone that retail outlets would sell for $1,100,” wrote another. “And Lootie was banned in Australia in April for being a gambling site.”
Despite the backlash, Austin once again encouraged his young audience to gamble by promoting DraftKings, a sports betting website, on his Snapchat with a discount code to get users started.
The ACE Family has not addressed the recent controversy at the time of publication, nor have they removed the promo link in their description box driving their nearly 19 million followers to Lootie.