The report suggests that marketing spend has decreased. This drop results from cost-cutting measures tied to new safer gaming messenger requirements and protections.
Britain’s BGC (Betting and Gaming Council) has released a new study on the local gambling sector. The findings suggest that UK gambling marketing is declining due to regulatory challenges. Licensed operators are facing increased pressure from the black market.
Produced by Alvarez & Marsal for the BGC, the Gambling Advertising and Sponsorship Report 2025 shows that legal operators’ marketing spend has been steadily declining. Gaming market expenses made up 3% of all UK marketing spend in 2023, but fell to 2.7% in 2024.
Regulated companies spent a total of £1.15 billion on advertising from October 2023 to September 2024. Most of this, £768 million, was directed to digital platforms. With TV ads comprising three-thirds of this spend, the remainder went toward broadcast ads. In spite of the prevalance of TV ads, the report shows that they have experienced the fastest decline, leading to a drop in gaming marketing expenses.
The report added that gambling advertising expenditure, excluding perimeter advertising, has fallen at a compound annual growth rate of -1.7%.
Furthermore, the operators spent GBP 138 million on gaming sponsorships.
All in all, gaming ads and sponsorships supported an estimate of 9,900 jobs and contributed almost GBP 506 million in indirect gross value to the economy.
The report suggests that marketing spend has fallen due to cost-cutting tied to new safer gaming messenger requirements and protections. The study estimates that 20% of all gaming ads now focus on safer gaming messaging, as mandated by UK regulations.
