According to a new estimate, British gambling companies spent an \u201castronomical\u201d \u00a32bn ($2.63bn) on advertising and marketing last year, intensifying calls for the chancellor to increase taxes on the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bookmakers, online casinos and slot-machine makers used these funds for print and digital advertising as well as affiliate programmes, in which third parties are paid to bring players to specific operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Data from leading analytics group WARC<\/strong> shows that this figure far exceeds the \u00a31.2bn ($1.58bn) raised for the Treasury from online casinos last year. Media sources note that the real advertising spend is likely hundreds of millions of pounds higher, as it is difficult to accurately account for all digital marketing costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means the actual amount may be close to \u00a32.5bn ($3.29bn) or even higher \u2014 roughly the same as the total collected last year from the sector\u2019s three main taxes, including levies on slot machines and sports betting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing pressure from think tanks, MPs and former prime minister Gordon Brown to raise taxes in the upcoming budget to help stabilise public finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC)<\/strong>, the industry body that strongly opposes such measures, challenged WARC\u2019s estimate, claiming the industry spends around \u00a31bn (about $1.32bn) on advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This figure is far below the \u00a31.5bn ($1.97bn) cited in 2018 by consultancy Regulus Partners, a firm trusted within the gambling sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the chancellor weighs whether to raise gambling taxes \u2014 and by how much \u2014 the surge in advertising expenditure is fuelling calls to disregard industry warnings about potential consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meg Hillier<\/strong>, chair of the influential Treasury Committee, emphasised that the industry\u2019s spending contradicts lobbyists\u2019 claims \u2014 made during a sometimes tense hearing \u2014 that higher taxes could have catastrophic effects on jobs and the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She noted: \u201cUnfortunately, the fact that we are told the existence of gambling firms is on a financial knife-edge while they simultaneously plough billions into advertising does not come as a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDuring our session with the BGC, we were warned that any increase in gambling taxation could lead to 40,000 job losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that the government does not cave into this industry scaremongering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alex Ballinger<\/strong>, a Labour MP who has campaigned for tougher regulation and taxation of gambling companies, said the \u00a32bn figure was an \u201castronomic sum\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPerhaps gambling firms should think about cutting back on adverts that nobody wants to see before pushing back against paying fair taxes on their vast profits particularly given the harms they cause.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, Alun Bowden,<\/strong> a leading gambling-sector analyst at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming<\/strong>, warned that reducing advertising expenditure could lead to unintended consequences by strengthening the position of illegal operators in the UK market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMarketing spend is the main way to mitigate costs and would be the first thing to be cut [if taxes rise], but there is a reason for marketing spend in the first place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you reduce advertising spend significantly then you give more parity to black market operators who are increasingly spending more on SEO, affiliates, streamers and social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n