The Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA) has signed up a host of new members – including five London councils.
Barnet, Brent, Enfield, Hackney and Lewisham have all joined the organisation, which puts increased pressure on London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to ban gambling adverts on the capital’s tube network.
He previously pledged to do so in his election manifesto in 2021, but has been accused by Londoners of breaking his promise by, so far, refusing to take action – an accusation that Khan denies.
Down the Tube
At the time of writing, there are no limitations on the number and location of gambling ads in London’s tube stations.
And a number of firms, at the time of writing, are promoting their betting sites and online casinos in the network.
But CEGA, who campaign against the proliferation of ‘harmful’ gambling ads across the UK, believe that the increasing number of London councils signing up to their coalition should act as a trigger for Khan to introduce an immediate ban on such marketing.
Local councils already have the power to restrict where gambling ads are displayed in their jurisdiction, however those rights don’t extend to privately owned enterprises – such as the tube network and billboard advertising space.
Brent and Enfield councils play host to more betting shops, casinos and gaming establishments than most other London boroughs. Haringey – another area populated extensively by gambling premises – first signed up to CEGA in January of this year.
The director of CEGA, Will Prochaska, commented:
“It’s inspiring to see councils stepping up to protect the health of their populations where national government is still wanting.
“By joining this coalition, they’re standing up for their communities and sending a clear message.”
Meanwhile, a Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) representative told the London Evening Standard:
“The Government has previously stated research did not establish a causal link between exposure to advertising and the development of problem gambling.”
A spokesperson for London’s mayor has since confirmed that a review is being undertaken by his office to determine the most effective ways of tackling gambling harm.
The £2 Billion Question
Dozens of local councils have previously signed up to CEGA, with Blackpool and Bristol amongst the newer recruits joining the quintet of London councils mentioned.
Blackpool has long been recognised as something of a hotbed of gambling in the north, with former local MPs keen to turn the town into an England’s answer to Las Vegas with ambitious ‘super casino’ plans.
However, those proposals were rejected, with Blackpool council now seemingly taking a tougher stance on gambling.
That comes in the wake of new research that found that betting firms spent a staggering £2 billion on advertising in 2024.
The spend, which was splashed on both print and digital ads, has increased exponentially over the past five years, with some claiming that the true cost could actually be higher, as digital marketing spending is harder to calculate through campaigns like ‘pay per click’ on popular search engines.
The BGC, however, has contested the research findings of media analysis firm WARC, claiming instead that the true figure is closer to a still-substantial £1billion.
But even that would mean that the gambling industry now spends more on advertising per year than the cosmetics and automotive sectors.
Budget Cuts
Even if the BGC’s estimate is a truer reflection of the annual marketing spend of gambling firms, it still perhaps adds extra credos to the argument that the industry was ‘scaremongering’ when detailing how damaging the gambling tax raid in the Autumn Budget would be.
If these brands have £1 billion to spend on advertising each year, can they be as financially hard up as they have suggested?
Big money brands like Evoke and Betfred, who are owned by the billionaire Done brothers, have warned of shop closures, redundancies and reduced investment as a consequence of the chancellor’s tax hike.
It has been suggested that some firms will cut back significantly on their marketing and advertising spend too, although Flutter this week confirmed that Paddy Power will continue its lucrative sponsorship deal with the World Darts Championship until 2031.
But Alan Bowden, of industry analysts Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, has warned that a cutback in the advertising spend of licensed, regulated firms could open the door to black market operators grabbing a bigger slice of market share.
“If you reduce advertising spend significantly then you give more parity to black market operators, who are increasingly spending more on search engine optimisation, affiliates, streamers and social media,” Bowden said.