The study found that 31.2% of sports bettors reported that advertising caused them to gamble in an ‘unplanned’ manner, with a higher proportion of people classified as problem gamblers.
The study, led by Heather Wardle and led by researchers at the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling, used data from two surveys.
We asked many questions about gambling and marketing, including how often they gambled, whether they had seen gambling marketing, and whether they believed gambling marketing caused them to gamble in “unplanned” ways.
In a regular survey of sports bettors, 31.2% of respondents said that marketing has caused unplanned gambling spending in the past three months.
Furthermore, among the 162 respondents classified as problem gamblers by the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), positive responses were much higher, with 87% of these people saying marketing was causing them unplanned spending. said to have caused
The authors of the study said that although they could not prove that marketing per se contributed to gambling addiction due to the nature of the study, the associations they found were of concern.
“Our analysis was cross-sectional and unable to show an association between experiencing gambling problems and reports that marketing caused unplanned gambling spending.” , the consistent presence and magnitude of such associations in two independent samples suggests that marketing likely plays some role in problem gambling, and whether this is an initiating role. Whether it is meant to reduce harm (i.e. marketing to encourage unplanned spending is a factor in escalating gambling problems) or have a reinforcing role (i.e. people already experiencing gambling problems , more likely to be driven by marketing into unplanned spending).
There was also an association between those who said marketing affected their spend and those who reported receiving direct marketing.
However, the study found between reports of seeing more types of gambling marketing (divided into groups of TV ads, billboards, and online ads) and gambling ads impacting spending. No significant association was seen.
As a result of the findings, its authors recommended that gambling marketing should be limited.
“Precautionary interpretation of these data, particularly the association between problem gambling and marketing that encourages unplanned spending, suggests that restricting gambling marketing may be a positive means of reducing harm. suggests that there is,’ they said.
The announcement of the study comes as the UK government considers a review of gambling laws in the country. This review may contain certain marketing restrictions, such as no spending-based targeting of free bets. It could also entail a ban on shirt-front sponsorship of Premier League football clubs, though this is expected to be enforced by the league itself rather than by law.
