Gambling Operators Added to Paid Promotions Prohibition List on X

Social media platform X has added gambling products and services to its list of prohibited industries that are ineligible for paid promotions, impacting how operators and affiliates market themselves on the platform.

X prohibits a number of industries from running paid promotions on the platform. These include adult products, alcoholic beverages, contraceptives, dating and marriage services, drugs, tobacco-related products and weapons.

The list now also includes “gambling products and services (including lotteries, social casinos, sports betting, and other gambling related content).”

What does this mean?

X defines paid partnerships as “the involvement of a third-party brand providing compensation or incentives to a user, such as an influencer or content creator, to promote their product or service.”

This includes mentions or the endorsement of products or services under certain conditions, including products or services generating a commission through affiliate links.

This is separate to X’s advertising policies, and gambling operators are still permitted to pay for advertisements on the platform; they will however no longer be able to pay users, or influencers, to promote their brand for them on the platform.

Posts that are part of a paid partnership must be published as an organic post and must include clear language indicating the commercial nature of the content, such as “Ad” or “Promoted Content.”

Previous examples

There have been some notable examples of operators in the UK using celebrity endorsement to promote their brand on X. In November, former football player John Terry  uploaded a video of himself and some other former players watching games from the UEFA Champions League, while promoting the Lebom betting app. Terry is a brand ambassador for Lebom.

Stake.com has been associated with running a social media advertising strategy on X, where its logo and branding has appeared on meme posts or shared images by high-engagement accounts, even if they are not officially marked as ads on X. This has appeared as controversial at times, as it is not made explicitly clear that the posts are ads for Stake.com.

In February 2025, Stake.com pulled out of the UK after an investigation from regulator the Gambling Commission into a widely viewed video displaying the Stake-branded logo, which was distributed on a social media platform and featured an adult actress outside Nottingham Trent University.

Online Safety Act

X’s policy update adds another layer of social media regulation to operators in the UK, who have recently been brought in line with the Online Safety Act. The Online Safety Act, which was implemented last July, legally requires social media companies and other online platforms to implement highly-effective age assurance methods to prevent children from accessing harmful content.

Research from the Commission, released in November, showed a significant share of young people who follow gambling-related content on social media have seen gambling ads or promotions from influencers, streamers or creators on platforms like TikTok, YouTube and X.

The research showed that of the 16% of young people who follow gambling-related content on social media or streaming platforms, three in 10 (31%) have been exposed to gambling advertising from the influencers, creators, or streamers that they follow. The study was based on a sample of 3,666 pupils aged 11 to 17.

What could happen?

As a result of the policy change, we may see gambling operators direct their marketing spend towards other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.

According to Meta’s ad tools, Facebook had 38.3 million UK users and Instagram had 33.4 million UK users in early 2025; X had an estimated ad reach of 19 million UK users in late 2025, although this reflects ad reach rather than monthly active users.