Gambling ads reach 30-per-minute high across Premier League's opening weekend
University of Bristol report shows number of ads in televised matches tripled year on year to nearly 30,000 with gambling industry described as “out of control”
The Premier League experienced a major spike in the number of gambling adverts displayed across digital platforms during the opening weekend of the 2024-25 season.
A report by the University of Bristol analysed six televised football matches from 16 to 19 August.
The matches in question were TNT Sports’ coverage of Ipswich vs Liverpool, while Sky Sports showed Manchester United vs Fulham, West Ham vs Aston Villa, Brentford vs Crystal Palace, Chelsea vs Manchester City and Tottenham vs Leicester City.
The analysis included the match itself, pre-match build-up, post-match analysis, half-time studio discussions and advertising breaks.
Overall, a 10-strong team of researchers examined more than 24 hours of live match coverage, 15 hours of Sky Sports News coverage, 15 hours of TalkSport radio broadcasts and social media posts across Facebook, Instagram and X.
The study revealed there were 29,145 gambling ads broadcast across TV, radio, social media and news reports over 17-18 August, nearly triple the 10,999 recorded during the same period the previous year.
During the TV broadcasts, gambling messages such as logos and adverts appeared 23,690 times, representing a 240% increase from the 6,966 recorded last year.
Of the six matches, Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over West Ham on 17 August was the worst affected. It displayed 6,491 gambling messages, equating to roughly 30 messages per minute.
According to the university, previous studies conducted had shown the peak number of messages during a match never exceeded 3,500.
The report also highlighted how easy it was for children to be exposed to gambling messaging thanks to social media platforms using content marketing techniques to make ordinary posts almost indistinguishable from gambling adverts.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the content marketing posts collected in the report were not clearly identifiable as gambling ads – a breach of key advertising regulations.
The university research team subsequently reported more than 100 offending social media ads by major gambling brands to the Advertising Standards Authority.
In July, the Premier League, along with the English Football League (EFL), Women’s Super League (WSL) and the FA, adopted the Code of Conduct for Gambling Related Agreements in Football.
The agreement was designed to ensure gambling sponsorships were promoted in a responsible way and limit their exposure to children.
In 2019, gambling companies agreed not to show TV ads on pre-watershed live games, during half-time or immediately before and after matches. This was part of the Betting and Gaming Council’s (BGC) whistle-to-whistle ban.
At the time, BGC said the measure led to a 97% reduction in the amount of gambling ads seen by children.
Despite these initiatives, this latest report found there were 10,027 gambling messages shown during the whistle-to-whistle ban.
Figures also showed 8.3% of gambling messages came via front-of-shirt exposure.
Fulham (sponsored by SBOTOP), West Ham (Betway), Leicester (BC.GAME), Brentford (Hollywood Bets), Crystal Palace (Net88) and Aston Villa (Betano) all have gambling operators as their front-of-shirt sponsors.
Fellow Premier League clubs Bournemouth and Southampton announced front-of-shirt sponsorships with gambling companies over the summer in the form of bj88 and Rollbit, respectively.
Lord Foster of Bath, chair of the Peers for Gambling Reform pressure group, called on the government and the Gambling Commission to take urgent action.
He said: “These statistics reveal the woeful inadequacies of industry self-regulation. Despite the purported ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban, we continue to see games saturated with gambling advertising, sponsorship and marketing messages.
“It is simply not good enough. The government and the Gambling Commission must immediately act to reform gambling advertising, sponsorship and marketing. With political will, these reforms can be implemented now, without the need for new legislation.”
Dr Raffaello Rossi, marketing lecturer at the University of Bristol and co-lead author of the report, claimed the gambling industry is “out of control” and attempts to self-regulate gambling advertising are ineffective.
He remarked: “This new evidence shows how much the industry is out of control – with gambling ads now flooding Premier League coverage.
“Just a few months ago, a new code of conduct was published by industry to curb marketing during football events, but the policy has had no impact on the volume whatsoever.
“It’s clear that the industry’s attempt to self-regulate is wholly inadequate and tokenistic. Despite having had years to put in place effective measures to protect consumers, the gambling industry continues to prioritise profit over safety.”