The Premier League saw a 6% year-on-year decline in the number of gambling adverts displayed across digital platforms during the opening weekend of the 2025-26 season.
In the third report into the prevalence of gambling ads conducted by the University of Bristol, seven televised football matches from 15 to 18 August were analysed.
The matches in question were: Sky Sports’ coverage of Liverpool versus Bournemouth, Wolves versus Man City, Chelsea versus Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest versus Brentford, Manchester United versus Arsenal and Leeds versus Everton, as well as TNT Sports’ coverage of Aston Villa versus Newcastle.
The study also looked at coverage on Sky Sports News from 7am to 11pm and Talksport Radio from 6am to 9pm on 16 August, plus ads from the 10 largest UK gambling brands on social media across Facebook, X and Instagram.
Analysis included the match itself, pre-match buildup, post-match analysis, half-time studio discussions and advertising breaks.
Across the opening weekend, 27,440 gambling ads were recorded, down from 29,415 the year prior.
However it was still a huge increase from the 10,999 recorded in 2023-24.
During the seven matches, 21,815 gambling messages were recorded across several different formats including football shirts and hoardings – averaging 12.6 messages per minute.
The highest number of messages in a single match saw 5,262 messages displayed during the match between Wolves versus Man City.
The Sky Sports News live broadcast saw 2,412 messages from brands not holding a UK licence.
Findings also found gambling brands on the front of shirts only accounted for 9.7% of total ads, with the University of Bristol concluding the incoming ban will have a “limited impact” on reducing gambling’s exposure to viewers.
Teams with a gambling brand as their sponsor included Bournemouth (bj88), Aston Villa (Betano), Wolves (Debet).
During the industry’s whistle-to-whistle ban, where ads cannot be shown from five minutes before a live sporting event until five minutes after it ends before the 9pm watershed, there were 13,262 messages shown.
Across the three social media platforms, gambling marketing generated 34 million views, an increase on last year’s 24 million.
Some 42% of organic gambling ads on social media were not clearly identifiable as advertising, the report found, in breach of the CAP Code.
Announcing its findings, Bristol University said: “For the third consecutive year, our findings highlight the pervasiveness of gambling marketing in the Premier League.
“Across four platforms, 27,440 gambling messages were recorded during the 25/26 opening weekend – a slight fall from 29,415 in 24/25, but still far above the 10,999 in 23/24.
“The data points to a saturated advertising space, with operators increasingly competing for the limited spaces.
“We observed not only an increase in the number of brands, but also a rise of messages on other formats such as on the stadium structure itself.
“Similar to last year, a clear theme across platforms and marketing formats is the ineffectiveness of self-regulation, either because the rules are too weak by design, or because the industry has not followed its own commitments.”
In the report’s conclusion, the introduction of gambling marketing legislation was a key recommendation, based on the deduction that the current whistle-to-whistle ban is ineffective and the incoming front-of-shirt sponsorship ban won’t have a significant enough impact on reducing the number of ads shown.
Additional recommendations included an improved whistle-to-whistle ban, a centralised mandate for responsible gambling messages, a ban on content marketing and a ban on unlicensed brands in sponsorship agreements.
The report read: “The evidence is overwhelming: the gambling industry is not capable of effectively regulating its own marketing practices.
“Neither the ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban, the front-of-shirt sponsorship ban, nor the Sponsorship Code of Conduct have been shown to have any meaningful impact on reducing the volume of gambling marketing associated with sports consumption.
“Similarly, the regulations set by the Committee of Advertising Practice have repeatedly failed to address compelling evidence regarding gambling adverts that use techniques highly appealing to children (eg, content marketing).
“The persistent failure to implement self-regulation that genuinely protect consumers support the conclusion that the industry is incapable of doing so.
“Accordingly, we believe that the government must intervene by introducing comprehensive gambling marketing legislation, following the example of many other European countries.”
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The post Gambling ads across opening Premier League weekend down 6% from 2024-25 season first appeared on EGR Intel.
Third annual University of Bristol report shows decline in 2025-26 compared to the previous year, but 27,440 figure is still three times the volume recorded in 2023-24
The post Gambling ads across opening Premier League weekend down 6% from 2024-25 season first appeared on EGR Intel.