Why the public is calling time on Britain’s permissive approach to gambling
Will Prochaska, Director
| Coalition to End Gambling Ads
Will Prochaska argues that with evidence mounting that liberal regulation harms families and the economy, ministers face growing pressure to ban gambling advertising
Trust in the gambling sector is at a low ebb. Could the billions spent on gambling advertising be turning people off? Perhaps the estimated 1.3 million people in Britain experiencing problem gambling, and the millions more of their friends and family members harmed indirectly, are impacting its popularity?
New polling by More in Common shows that 64 per cent of people do not trust gambling companies to act responsibly towards their customers. Only tobacco and social media companies were trusted less. Even among gamblers themselves, a majority distrust the sector, which is unsurprising given the repeated stories of gambling operators failing to pay out and restricting winning accounts. Among the more than 3,000 people polled by More in Common, just three per cent said growing the gambling sector should be a government aim, a clear rebuke of the last government’s strategy.
Gambling Minister Vicky Foxcroft spoke at a Coalition to End Gambling Advertising fringe event at the Labour Party conference 2026
Andy Burnham has rightly gauged the public mood and acted quickly. Within days of becoming Prime Minister, he announced plans to scrap the “aim to permit” principle that made it extremely hard for councils to reject licenses for new gambling premises. He also appointed a gambling minister, Vicky Foxcroft MP, who had previously said gambling harm “should be treated as a public health emergency”. Last week she joined a Coalition to End Gambling Ads fringe panel at the Labour Conference, along with powerful advocates Dawn Butler MP and Alex Ballinger MP, titled: What next for gambling reform: Time for a new Act?
Successive governments have parroted the sector’s line that there is not enough evidence available to take action on key areas such as gambling advertising. But Britain, arguably, has more evidence than any other country on the drivers of gambling harm, and countries with far less evidence have taken much stricter action.
But pressure is building. In September, the Lords Liaison Committee, after assessing the evidence, recommended a “comprehensive ban on gambling advertising”. The cross-party group of peers said previous governments had been “far too passive in reacting to the transformative explosion of digital advertising.”
Gambling sector lobbyists have pushed back against any reform saying it will lead to people using the illegal market, a tactic favoured by ‘Big Tobacco’. What they don’t say is that most people using illegal sites have self-excluded from legal sites after suffering harm. Logically, therefore, if you constrain the legal sector the pipeline of people who have self-excluded will be slowed. Stewart Kenny, the co-founder and long-time CEO of Paddy Power, has also cautioned government that the use of “black market” scaremongering is a tactic he deployed when inside the sector, and shouldn’t be taken at face value.
Banning all gambling ads would be the simplest way to identify and enforce against illegal gambling promotions. If you doubt this, ask yourself when was the last time you saw a tobacco ad online, legal or illegal?
The sector’s illegal market warnings become harder to hear when you consider many licensed British operators are still making money in places where online gambling is illegal. A Coalition to End Gambling Ads investigation this year also found that several illegal sites appeared to be using games by British-licensed software providers, some of which were members of the Betting and Gaming Council. This month it was revealed that three UK bookmakers that have repeatedly warned of the dangers of the illicit market have also benefited from a lucrative deal with one of the world’s largest illegal casino networks.
Another lobbying line is that any reforms that cause the sector to shrink will lead to job losses. This is where the evidence really does stack up against gambling. Gambling contributed just 0.2 per cent of UK Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2024, and its economic contribution is declining. From 2010 to 2024, gambling GVA fell by 31.7 per cent in real terms. Moreover, studies show that spending on gambling actually harms the economy overall, with funds spent on other goods and services generating more jobs and more tax revenue.
Since the 2005 Gambling Act came into force, the sector has enjoyed the light-touch regulation that has allowed its gross gambling yield to soar to more than £17 billion. That’s more than £17 billion of money lost, often to offshore companies, that could have been boosting our economy.
Wrapped up in those immense profits are stories of families unable to buy the things they need or heat their homes. In the worst cases, it is the stories of families losing loved ones to gambling-related suicide.
It is no wonder that most people don’t trust this sector. The evidence makes the case for ending gambling advertising increasingly difficult to ignore. This government has a special opportunity to make it happen.
