UK gambling firms spent ‘astronomic’ £2bn on advertising last year
British gambling companies spent an “astronomic” £2bn on advertising and marketing last year, according to a new estimate that has intensified calls for the chancellor to increase taxes on the sector.Bookmakers, online casinos and slot machine companies spent the sum through a mixture of print and digital promotions, as well as affiliate programmes, where third parties are paid to steer gamblers towards particular operators in return for a fee.The figure, produced by the leading media insights group WARC, far outstrips the £1.2bn that the Treasury collected last year from online casino companies.Media industry sources said the total spent on gambling advertising is likely to be hundreds of millions of pounds higher because it is difficult to accurately measure the actual amount of digital marketing spend.
That means that the true figure could be close to, or even higher than, the £2.5bn raised last year by the three main duties that the industry pays, which also include taxes levied on slot machines and sports bets.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is under pressure from thinktanks, MPs and former prime minister Gordon Brown to raise these duties at Wednesday’s budget, as she attempts to raise funds to shore up the ailing public finances.The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), an industry group that has lobbied hard against any such move, disputed WARC’s estimate, claiming that industry ad spend was closer to £1bn.This estimate is significantly less than a 2018 figure of £1.
5bn given by Regulus Partners, a consultancy favoured by the gambling industry.As Reeves considers whether to raise gambling duties – and by how much – the higher estimate fuelled calls to ignore industry warnings about the potential impact of a tax rise.Meg Hillier, the chair of the influential Treasury select committee, said the industry’s spending undermined claims made by its lobbyists, in an occasionally tense evidence session with her committee, that tax rises could have devastating consequences for jobs and growth.She said: “Unfortunately, the fact that we are told the existence of gambling firms is on a financial knife-edge while they simultaneously plough billions into advertising does not come as a surprise.“During our session with the BGC, we were warned that any increase in gambling taxation could lead to 40,000 job losses.
“It’s important that the government does not cave into this industry scaremongering.”Alex Ballinger, a Labour MP who has campaigned for tougher regulation and taxation of gambling companies, said the £2bn figure was an “astronomic sum”.“Perhaps gambling firms should think about cutting back on adverts that nobody wants to see before pushing back against paying fair taxes on their vast profits particularly given the harms they cause,” he said.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionHowever, leading gambling industry analyst Alun Bowden, of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, said that any reduction in advertising spend might have unintended consequences, helping illicit operators to gain more of a foothold in the UK market.“Marketing spend is the main way to mitigate costs and would be the first thing to be cut [if taxes rise], but there is a reason for marketing spend in the first place,” he said.
“If you reduce advertising spend significantly then you give more parity to black market operators who are increasingly spending more on SEO [search engine optimistation], affiliates, streamers and social media.”James McDonald, the director of intelligence at WARC, said: “The gambling sector has grown to become a significant force in the advertising market, spending more than industry stalwarts such as automotive and cosmetics in recent years.”“While TV spend is a major focus, social media platforms are also core to the sector’s marketing strategy.”Will Prochaska, the director of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, said: “One would think that if the sector is asked to pay a bit more tax in the upcoming budget that they could cut back on their ad-spend rather than lay off all their employees in betting shops, or further reduce what they payout to customers, but that’s a choice for them.”A BGC spokesperson said: “These claims are misleading as the betting and gaming industry spend on advertising, excluding lotteries, is around £1bn, and has actually declined over recent years.
“Crucially, 20% of all broadcast and digital advertising is dedicated entirely to safer gambling messaging, a voluntary commitment made by the UK industry.“Further tax rises would simply drive more consumers towards the growing black market that offers no age checks, no safer gambling tools and no tax contribution, while undermining advertising spend that differentiates the regulated market that supports over 11,000 jobs, contributes £506m to the UK economy, and provides £138m a year to British sport through sponsorship.”
England 27-23 Argentina: Autumn Nations Series rugby union – as it happened
England held on and Rob Kitson was there to see it.Thanks everyone for joining me. As I sign off can I steer you towards Rob’s piece.Thanks to you all for being with us across the autumn. What a feast of rugby it was!Til next time…It’s a shame we won’t get the showdown we all want
England edge over line for autumn clean sweep but Argentina fume over Curry scuffle
Up on the scoreboard England have ended their autumn firmly in credit. A first four-Test autumn clean sweep at Twickenham since 2016, a total of 17 tries scored and a winning run that now stretches to 11 Tests. By the time the 2026 Six Nations comes around those will be the primary facts when Steve Borthwick’s team regather with the aim of pushing further onwards and upwards.Their final game of the year, though, was a curate’s egg with a distinctly sour aftertaste. An angry Felipe Contepomi, the Pumas’ head coach, alleged afterwards he had been shoved and sworn at by Tom Curry in a post-match scuffle in the tunnel and complained the Sale flanker had been guilty of a “reckless” tackle that led to his full-back Juan Cruz Mallía suffering a serious knee injury and reduced Argentina to 14 men late on
Dire not fire: England’s Ashes confidence seems misplaced after two days | Geoff Lemon
As an Australian, even one lacking in cricket parochialism, it’s flat to sit around the Perth CBD city centre on what should have been the third day of the opening Ashes Test but isn’t. In the same way that this city of heatwaves is now being combed by chilly winds and rain, the whole thing just feels wrong. Through years of buildup, the current England team has raised the possibility of being different to those that came before. For anyone who believed it, even a little, it seems as if we all got hoodwinked.In my cricket watching lifetime, English visits have been a procession of the abject
England must avoid Perth 2025 becoming the new Adelaide 2006 | Ali Martin
Stuart Broad was a highly meme-able cricketer and it turns out that talent now extends into commentary. As Joe Root chopped Mitchell Starc on to his stumps during England’s subsidence on Saturday afternoon, Broad summed up the mood of a nation without uttering so much as a word.In a clip that has since gone viral, Broad is in the Channel 7 box with his eyes shut, arms folded, letting out an exasperated sigh; the kind of internal “FFS” triggered by a toddler doing the very thing they were just warned against. Watching from the far end as two teammates fall to expansive drives on a bouncy, nippy surface, only to attempt a repeat against Starc, is a bit like pulling on the cat’s tail. Root did it anyway
Confident McCullum ‘planning how to bounce back’ after England’s Ashes flop
Brendon McCullum has called on England fans rocked by the team’s calamitous two-day defeat by Australia in the first Ashes Test to “keep the faith”, insisting the team’s only chance of turning the series around was to double down on their methods. “You’ve got to block out the doubts and the insecurities that can creep in,” said the head coach, “because if that does happen then you literally have no chance.”The speed at which the game unravelled has left the team with some unexpected time off – though a few of those who were not required at Perth Stadium spent their Sunday playing for the Lions against an Australia XI at Lilac Hill – with management now deciding whether the best preparation for the second Test, which starts in Brisbane on 4 December, will involve sending some squad members to play in the Lions’ next fixture, a day-nighter against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, or taking the entire group away for some team bonding. “We’ve got to work out whether that extra cricket is the key, or making sure that camaraderie is tight and morale doesn’t drop,” McCullum said. “We’ve just got to work out what the pros and cons of all that are
McLaren apologise to Norris, Piastri and fans for Las Vegas Grand Prix disqualification
McLaren have held their hands up and issued an apology to their drivers after their breach of Formula One regulations led to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the two leading title contenders, from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and put the F1 drivers’ championship within the grasp of the reigning champion, Max Verstappen.The race was won by the Red Bull driver but Norris took a strong second and Piastri fourth. However, four hours after the race and following an investigation by the FIA, both were disqualified after the skid blocks on the floor of their cars were found to have been worn down below the 9mm limit defined in the rules.“We apologise to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a critical time in their championship campaigns after two strong performances from them all weekend,” said McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella. “As a team, we also apologise to our partners and fans, whose support means so much
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