GambleAware has called on the UK to tighten restrictions on gambling advertising in line with its European peers, to better protect players.
The charity believes a number of policy changes should be made to address public health concerns around the impact of gambling marketing, including a pre-watershed ban on broadcast adverts, restrictions on gambling content online and a blanket ban across sports.
These measures would bring the UK in line with some of its European peers which have tightened marketing regulations in the last few years.
A study by the University of Bristol and Ipsos has suggested that the UK’s current gambling marketing regulations are much less restrictive than others in Europe. The report found that out of a number of markets, including Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia, Great Britain has the most evidence of the negative effects of gambling marketing.
GambleAware said it commissioned Ipsos to undertake a scoping study to understand and compare gambling marketing restrictions in comparable countries.
The study determined that all the countries, except for Australia, had far more stringent gambling marketing regulations compared to the UK.
What are other European marketing doing to restrict gambling marketing?
In the last couple of years various European markets have increased regulations around advertising, Belgium last July banned all forms of gambling advertising.
While the Netherlands is considering a similar move, it enhanced restrictions on marketing across various digital channels and in public places last July. This included banning sports sponsorships and restricting online ads to only target consumers of gambling age. Italy was the first to totally ban gambling ads in 2019.
The UK, however, has been reluctant to enforce such strict guidelines. However, Premier League clubs have collectively agreed to halt front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships as of the 2026-27 season.
The report observed that the European countries mentioned had followed a similar trajectory of liberalising their online gambling markets, noting a rise in participation and subsequently clamping down on marketing to tackle gambling harms.
The UK’s industry is a lot more mature than the others, however, and the gambling sector is deeply entrenched in sports and horseracing.
But the study suggests that Great Britain has, by far, produced the most research on gambling harms and marketing, with 496 published research papers about gambling marketing between 2014 and 2024.
“GB is the only country we found that mainly relies on self and co-regulation with significant industry participation,” the paper noted.
“Due to conflict of interests and enforcement challenges, significant reductions in gambling marketing in Great Britain would likely require new primary legislation, as opposed to self-regulation.”
Why is the UK reluctant to increase its regulations?
However, the report also compared the proliferation of gambling ad restrictions to other potentially harmful activities where regulations can have a similarly damaging impact. These were tobacco, alcohol and foods high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS).
“Without a broader public understanding of the extent and nature of harm resulting from gambling and the government being willing to change the regulatory system significantly, meaningful regulation is unlikely,” the study said of the UK’s reluctance to increase regulations on gambling advertising.
GambleAware in June published an earlier study suggesting there was significant backing for a ban on gambling marketing in the UK. It said its recent survey had determined that almost three-quarters of British consumers believe there should be more regulations for gambling advertising, with two-thirds saying that there are currently too many adverts.
