Peers call for UK to enact tobacco-style ban on gambling advertising

The UK should introduce a ban on almost all gambling advertising to protect public health, a cross-party group of peers has urged, prompting fury from the lobby group for bookmakers and casinos.

In a 173-page report, the House of Lords liaison committee said the government had been “too passive” in response to an explosion of digital advertising and social media influencers promoting the gambling sector.

British bookmakers, slot machine venues and casinos won £12.6bn from customers in Great Britain last year, while up to 1.4 million people have a gambling problem, according to official statistics.

The report found that a tobacco-style blanket ban on advertising, with carve-outs for the lottery and racecourses, would be the “most effective” way to reduce harms such as financial ruin, relationship breakdown and even suicide.

A ban would likely result in the UK’s gambling sector shrinking, the report acknowledged, but would lead to longer-term economic benefit as money previously spent on gambling is diverted to other parts of the economy.

The report was dismissed as “deeply misguided” by the industry’s lobby group, the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC), which said any such policy could increase harm because it would benefit the illicit market, which would continue to advertise.

Lord Foster, one of the report’s authors, said the illicit market, whose exploitative activities have been documented in Guardian investigations, was a “legitimate concern” and pointed to ongoing efforts by regulators to crack down on rogue sites.

“That should not deflect us from the need to address the harm that is being created by the legal market,” he said, insisting there was a wealth of evidence linking gambling advertising to harm.

Gambling advertising in the UK was liberalised via the 2005 Gambling Act introduced by Tony Blair’s government, a landmark piece of legislation that aimed to regulate the sector but also promote its growth as a legitimate leisure activity that could create jobs and boost the economy.

Before the act, only bingo, the football pools and lotteries, including the National Lottery, were allowed to advertise on television.

The volume of gambling advertising has ballooned since then, with annual spend by the industry reaching £2bn in 2024, according to estimates.

In contrast to Blair, Andy Burnham has been a vocal critic of the gambling industry and recently moved to give councils more power to block new betting shops and “slot farms” opening up on high streets.

As mayor of Greater Manchester, he expressed a desire to “relegate gambling sponsorship of sport to the history books”.

The BGC pointed to voluntary measures already taken by the industry, including “whistle to whistle” ban that saw its members agree not to advertise during the course of a televised sports fixture.

The trade body has also estimated that half of the money spent on advertising by gambling firms now comes from a fast-growing illicit market not subject to the same controls as licensed operators.

Grainne Hurst, the BGC chief executive, said:“A blanket advertising ban would remove a key competitive advantage of being licensed and regulated while doing nothing to stop illegal operators targeting British consumers.”

The Guardian ceased accepting advertising from gambling companies, excluding the National Lottery, in 2024.