Fake money is seen on the pitch after being thrown by West Ham United fans during the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
UK-based sportsbooks have supercharged their focus on Premier League audiences, with native soccer fans exposed to almost three times more gambling messages than the previous year. Whether through the medium of television advertising, front-of-shirt sponsorship, or affiliate marketing schemes, followers of England's top-tier soccer league are consistently prompted to engage in betting activity. A research group from the University of Bristol collected a sizeable amount of data on this concerning trend and subsequently published their findings in an eye-opening report. Disputing the legitimacy of the betting industry's self-imposed regulatory measures, Dr Rossi and his team suggest government intervention is urgently required.
In our analysis of this study, RG charts the evolving relationship between sports and gambling on both sides of the Atlantic and considers how various stakeholders—such as sportsbook operators, elite leagues (and their participants), and legislatures—have collaborated to reduce problem gambling and keep consumers safe.
A recently published study has revealed that the volume of gambling messages displayed during Premier League coverage in the UK has nearly trebled. The study, led by researchers based at the University of Bristol and co-funded by gambling support charity GambleAware, compared the number of betting references on the first weekend of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign versus the like-for-like weekend last year. Researchers collated vast amounts of data from television, radio, and social media channels to gain an accurate and comprehensive view of the entire media landscape, with concerning results cited across all three mediums. Although the findings presented in their final report are unlikely to shock many given the relentless proliferation of the UK gambling sector, they nevertheless serve as a stark warning to consumers and governmental policymakers, and perhaps prick the conscience of the country’s most powerful sports betting firms.
While the nascent U.S. sportsbook industry experiences explosive growth as state legislatures continue to green-light localized gaming bills, the United Kingdom’s bourgeoning relationship with sports betting has been a much slower burn.
Gambling has always been a cornerstone of UK sporting (and mainly soccer) culture, with many sports enthusiasts considering it – much the same as alcohol consumption – as a material part of the viewing experience. Understanding how the link between gambling and sports positions itself in the U.S. national psyche is a much more complicated task, given the domestic environment's federalized and segmented nature. State boundaries have a significant impact here, with cultural, religious, and political traditions influencing betting behavior. Many deeply conservative jurisdictions – usually clad in Republican red come election season – are unlikely ever to establish a regulated sportsbook sector. At the same time, more ‘liberal-minded’ states allowed locals to place bets as soon as physically possible.
The advent of digital sportsbooks has further accentuated this close connection between UK soccer enthusiasts and gambling, with audiences using their smartphones to bet before and during live events. According to a survey by data analytics experts YouGov, almost a quarter of native sports fans have placed an online wager within the last twelve months. However, these results are slightly skewed by a 49% penetration rate within the horse racing segment. With forecasters expecting the UK’s sports betting market to grow 4.53% over the next five years, this activity level shows no signs of abating.
The Problem Gambling Epidemic
However, as the size and scope of the UK gambling industry have continued to intensify, so have calls for tighter regulations and enhanced consumer protection laws. The general public has witnessed a sharp incline in problem gambling cases – a recent report estimated that 2.5% of the population have suffered severe harm as a result of their gambling behavior – and are beginning to bite back, mounting pressure on politicians to intervene. Yet, these efforts have been undermined by government profligacy, corporate greed, and the self-regulated nature of the marketplace.
The previous incumbents of power – a Tory administration riddled with scandal, incompetency, and deceit – were painfully slow in their response to spiraling problem gambling figures. Over two years on from announcing their intention to investigate gambling industry conditions in a bid to gain a mandate for policy change, the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport eventually released their white paper "High Stakes: gambling reform for the digital age."
Although hailed as a “comprehensive package of new measures” by former Secretary of State Lucy Frazer, the contents of the long-awaited plan left much to be desired. Amongst other woolly and half-hearted proposals, the reform bill called for a reduction in max-spin stakes (applying to casino games) to a still considerable £15 wager, affordability checks, compulsory data sharing between operators to help manage high-risk customers, and a probe into the impact of promotional incentives (such as free bets/bonuses, etc). The white paper also mooted the introduction of an independent gambling ombudsman, although the powers of this (yet to materialize) impartial body appear to be as toothless as the other so-called “comprehensive measures” put forward.
The intimate association of soccer and gambling has been further compounded by clubs' receptiveness to showcase betting brands on shirts, advertising hoardings, and corporate hospitality suites. Despite a unilateral stakeholder agreement to ban gambling companies from providing front-of-shirt sponsorship commencing from the 2026-27 Premier League season, the constant wave of betting messages emblazoned across stadium architecture and television broadcasts appears unlikely to subside.
It's easy to see why participants in England’s elite league have collaborated with gaming and sportsbook operators, having raked in a cumulative total of £125.5m in shirt sponsorship payments for the 2024-25 campaign.
Despite the impending ban, an all-time high of eleven clubs struck front-of-shirt sponsorship deals with gambling firms ahead of the current season, an uplift of 15% on the previous campaign. It’s perhaps also worth noting that a cross-section of EFL (English Football League – tiers two to four) clubs also prosper from gambling sponsorship, with an annual pot of £40m shared between those pursuing partnerships.
Exposing The Industry
However, as the University of Bristol’s second annual report into the regularity of betting advertisements in Premier League coverage seeks to illustrate, the systemically flawed concept of industry self-regulation contributes most to exacerbating problem gambling behaviors amongst soccer fans. The “Gambling Marketing and the Premier League: The Continued Failure of Industry Self-Regulation” illustrates the inherent failings of the Gambling Commission (the UK’s chief gambling regulator) to establish a set of responsible policies designed to curtail the level of exposure fans have to betting messages, and the reluctance of sportsbook operators to implement the modest controls they are obliged to deliver appropriately.
“The findings underscore a significant failure of self-regulatory measures effectively designed to curb gambling marketing associated with football,” remarks leading author Dr Raffaello Rossi in his introductory notes. “This trend indicates that these self-imposed regulations, while acknowledging the potential harms of gambling marketing, have proven largely symbolic and ineffective in protecting football supporters from pervasive exposure to gambling marketing."
Given the results recorded, it seems difficult to argue with Dr Rossi’s unapologetic diagnosis.
The data
Researchers extrapolated data from live television broadcasts of Premier League matches (between Friday 16th – Monday 19th August), the Sky Sports News channel (between 6.00am – 9.00pm on Saturday 17th August), the TalkSPORT radio station (between 6.00am – 9.00pm on Saturday 17th August), and the social media outputs of the UK’s ten largest gambling companies (Friday 16th – Monday 19th August). Therefore, their sample field encompassed all key media platforms throughout the Premier League’s opening weekend.
A total of 29,145 gambling messages were shown across these mediums, a staggering 165% increase on the previous year.
Over 80% of those came during live match coverage, which equated to almost 17,000 more messages than the opening weekend of the 2023-24 campaign. Saturday evening’s clash between West Ham and Aston Villa was the most saturated with gambling advertisements, with some form of marketing appearing on-screen around 30 times per minute. This equated to 6,491 messages, over 1,300 more than the second-most impacted broadcast (Leicester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Monday evening).
Sky Sports News facilitated a mammoth 4,332 gambling messages during a single day on-air, with most featuring either early in the morning or late evening. Although the average duration of these messages was a lengthy 11.73 seconds, this timeframe more than doubles when assessing TalkSPORT's equivalent figures. The UK’s biggest commercial radio station reserves significant airtime for sports betting discussions, with affiliate marketing podcasts and tip segments, and has produced ad spots featuring on a regular cycle. However, there is some consolation in that over 85% of advertisements were accompanied by age restriction and harm reduction prompts.
Social media users handed more than a quarter of a million likes to betting-related posts throughout the weekend, with the overwhelming majority of these a product of content and affiliate marketing. Worryingly, 67% of posts were accompanied by an emoji icon, a clear indication of a shift towards a younger target audience. A considerable 239 posts were registered during live events, with sportsbook operators seeking to circumnavigate the whistle-to-whistle TV ban. In stark contrast to radio advertisement content, less than half of these outputs contained age guidance or problem gambling warnings.
Across the Pond
So, how do these figures stack up against current trends in North America? Well, the landscape on this side of the Atlantic is a little foggier, with recent studies producing conflicting results. According to the American Gaming Association, the volume and intensity of betting marketing campaigns in the U.S. has significantly reduced over the last three years . Sportsbook operators spent 15% less on advertising in 2023 versus the previous year, a drop-off of $210m in monetary terms. If you remove marketing investments in Daily Fantasy Sports – an increasingly popular vertical with American punters – the like-for-like reduction steepens to a colossal 21%, meaning expenditure in the conventional sports realm fell by more than a fifth. Consequently, the volume of betting advertisements across all media channels has declined by 4% over the same timeframe. Comparing these numbers against the equivalent data from 2021 – often regarded as the apex of marketing activity – highlights an enormous 20% reduction in sportsbook ads.
However, the results of another study, conducted by Dr Raffaella Rossi's team, seem to contradict the AGA’s findings, suggesting traffic is perhaps moving in the opposite direction. Although research for this probe into betting advertising patterns was staged in Canada, it undoubtedly gives us a decent insight into the U.S. context, given the parallels between these two markets. Many of the adverts on Canadian media outlets are identical to those shown in the U.S., while some specific tactics – such as pre-match picks features and match commentators announcing live odds – are unilaterally deployed.
The study highlighted the sheer scale of gambling imagery present in media coverage of sports events, with Canadian audiences routinely exposed to the varying marketing strategies of betting firms.
A mammoth 799 messages appeared on television and social media channels during the Toronto Raptors’ narrow defeat to the Chicago Bulls on 27th October 2023, while 4,100 gambling references were recorded across the same weekend’s entire program of NBA and NHL fixtures. Audiences were subjected to some form of gambling messaging for an average of almost 40 minutes throughout television broadcasts of these matches, equating to approximately 13 minutes of betting prompts every hour. In addition, only 2.6% of these messages alerted viewers of the risks of problem gambling, while less than 3% included an age restriction note.
Cross-stakeholder Intervention
Alongside the pending front-of-shirt sponsorship ban and the embargo on advertising during live television broadcasts, the Betting and Gaming Council has collaborated with the Premier League to institute a “Code of Conduct for Gambling-related Agreements in Football”. The Premier League has also refrained from establishing a central gambling-related partner despite the lucrative commercial opportunity this would present.
Under the terms of the “Code of Conduct for Gambling-related Agreements in Football” statute, all English top-tier clubs must observe the legal and regulatory precedents set out by the Gambling Commission and Advertising Standards Agency (ASA). A similar initiative was undertaken in North America towards the end of last year, as the NBA, MLB, and NHL – three leagues subject to some of the most intense wagering activity – combined forces to encourage fans to bet responsibly. The “Never Know What’s Next” campaign saw 30-second television advertisements being aired during broadcasts of top-tier basketball, baseball, and ice hockey fixtures, with each clip providing details of the National Council of Problem Gambling website. Launched midway through live coverage of last November's In-Season Tournament group stage match-up between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers, the campaign was supported by four of the U.S’ largest sports betting firms – DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, and Penn Entertainment – and was warmly received by fans and gambling critics alike.
Conclusions Drawn
The University of Bristol researchers whole-heartedly reject the self-regulated industry’s three-pronged approach, asserting it won't make any tangible difference to the UK’s gambling advertising outlook. The report’s headline findings column states, “Neither the ”whistle-to-whistle” ban, the front-of-shirt sponsorship ban, nor the sponsorship Code of Conduct have been shown to have any meaningful impact on reducing the volume of gambling marketing associated with sports consumption.”
It’s recommended the government exercise its right to impose regulatory controls over the sportsbook sector, having been able to leverage these powers since the introduction of the Gambling Act in 2005. As part of this shake-up, it’s suggested the government should introduce:
- A “comprehensive” whistle-to-whistle ban that prevents any sort of gambling messaging from being displayed during live soccer broadcasts, whether that be in the form of shirt sponsorship, advertising hoardings, or via any media channel.
- Compulsory Responsible Gambling prompts on all marketing forms, with stipulated rules on the size, prominence, and duration of messaging.
- An outright ban on gambling content marketing, ensuring entertainment and humor are not used to disguise or trivialize the risks associated with sports betting (the study’s findings indicate that most content marketing productions are not identified as advertisement partnerships, with 74% deemed to be in breach of current advertising regulations).
However, there’s also an expectation that key stakeholders must take far greater responsibility. As the report states, the industry has a deep-seated tendency to “prioritize profit over safety” and therefore there needs to be a cultural shift to accompany government intervention.
So how did operators respond to the researchers’ damning indictment of their practices? Well, with all the stubbornness and stoicism you would expect from a group eager to protect their public image.
“This research fundamentally misunderstands both advertising and the way in which it is strictly regulated, while making a series of statements which are either misleading or incorrect," commented a BGC spokesperson in response to the report’s findings. "Betting advertising and sponsorship must comply with strict guidelines and safer gambling tools and signposts to help for those concerned about their betting, are regularly and prominently displayed.”
At RG, we understand that customers want authentic and unbiased advice when deciding whether to register with a particular sportsbook. We do not consent to advertising partnerships and only provide accounts of our own experts’ experience of using products. We believe this fosters trust between ourselves and our readership and ultimately helps us as an organization to grow—Dr. Rossi’s & co. will be hoping the UK sports betting industry embraces a similar approach in the wake of their condemnatory study.
Will it be a hat-trick of year-on-year increases, or will we witness a scaling down of gambling messages come the opening weekend of the 2025-26 Premier League season? It’s risky to bet on the latter…
Ryan Murray is an experienced sports journalist specializing in European Soccer, with extensive knowledge of the continent's top leagues and players. Having provided text for official UEFA Champions League merchandise and written for coveted publications such as Readers Digest, Footballer's Life, and the Asian Standard, Ryan brings considerable expertise to RG.org. Ryan has also produced content for high-profile betting companies, including Paddy Power, Betfair, PlayStar, and LeoVegas.
