Gambling Messaging in Premier League Falls, But Numbers Still High

The number of recorded gambling messages in UK media across the opening weekend of the English Premier League declined year-on-year this season, but was still up significantly from two years ago, a study has found.

According to the third annual study from the University of Bristol looking into the prevalence of gambling marketing, a total of 27,440 gambling messages were recorded across four platforms during the opening weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League season. This was down from the 29,415 posted for last season, but was considerably higher than the 10,999 recorded for the 2023/24 season.

What makes up the data?

The researchers measured the gambling messaging at separate times across the weekend, which ran from Friday 15 to Monday 18 August. The research period was made up of:

• Seven live Premier League TV broadcasts across the four days on Sky Sports and TNT Sports (three matches were not shown live).
• Sky Sports News TV coverage on Saturday 16 August from 7am to 11pm.
• TalkSport radio coverage on Saturday 16 August from 6am to 9pm.
• Social media ads by the 10 largest UK gambling brands on Facebook, Instagram and X.

Majority comes from live matches

The highest number of messages in a live broadcast were recorded during the match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City on Sky Sports; a total of 5,262 messages were recorded. The total 21,815 gambling messages across the seven live games made up 79.5% of the total gambling messages found in the study.

Some of the in-game messages were recorded on formats outside the broadcaster’s remit, including hoardings, stadium structure and football shirts. Betting operators currently have front-of-shirt sponsorships with 11 of the 20 Premier League clubs.

The researchers also claimed 70% of 280 content marketing ads sent by gambling brands were not clearly identifiable as advertising, and would constitute a breach of advertising regulations. Meanwhile, social media gambling ads generated more than 34 million views.

Self-regulation focus

With regards to gambling advertising, various forms of self-regulation have been introduced in this area in recent years.

While more than half the Premier League clubs have front-of-shirt sponsorships with betting operators, from the 2026/27 season, these types of sponsorships will be prohibited as part of a voluntary ban being introduced by the Premier League clubs. According to the University of Bristol’s most recent study though, front-of-shirt gambling messages account for only 9.66% of total messages.

In 2024, the Premier League, the Football Association, the English Football League and the Women’s Super League agreed to adopt a Code of Conduct for Gambling Related Agreements in Football. The code includes four general principles regarding the way gambling sponsorships operate, including focusing on the protection of children and vulnerable people, social responsibility, reinvestment of sponsorship funds back into the game and the game’s integrity.

In 2019, the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG), co-ordinated by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), introduced a whistle-to-whistle ban on TV commercials shown during live sports broadcasts from five minutes before the start until five minutes after the event’s conclusion, before 9pm, with exceptions made for horseracing and greyhound racing.

However, with regards to football, this generally only covers in-play betting advertising at half-time. Regardless, the study claims there have been 13,262 violations of this self-regulation during the restricted periods. Not all UK operators are members of IGRG, but BGC claims to represent approximately 90% of the UK’s licensed betting and gaming businesses.