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UK braces for Autumn Budget
Gambling firms in the UK have come under even more pressure ahead of Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget this week after revelations they spent £2bn ($2.3bn) advertising and marketing in 2024.
According to The Guardian, the new estimate from media insights firm WARC “has intensified calls” for Reeves to raise gambling taxes in Wednesday’s budget.
social media platforms highlighted as “core to the sector’s marketing strategy”
WARC states that iGaming brands and slot machine firms spent the ad money on a mix of traditional, digital, and affiliate media campaigns, with social media platforms highlighted as “core to the sector’s marketing strategy.”
Critics didn’t waste time reacting to the alleged ad spend, with Labour MP Alex Ballinger branding the amount an “astronomic sum.”
Opponents whale away
WARC’s Director of Intelligence James McDonald said his firm’s findings reveal the UK gambling trade in recent years spent more on ads “than industry stalwarts such as automotive and cosmetics.”
The report has undermined the trade’s position that a tax hike could cost 400,000 jobs, leading to many intensifying their calls for Reeves to raise taxes on the gambling industry.
claiming to be “on a financial knife-edge”
Chair of the influential Treasury Select Committee Meg Hillier said it was no surprise that gambling companies plowed “billions into advertising” while claiming to be “on a financial knife-edge.” Hillier added that it was “important that the government does not cave into this industry scaremongering.”
The UK trade group Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has, however, disputed WARC’s report, claiming that industry ad spend was nearer to £1bn ($1.15bn).
“These claims are misleading” the Council stated, “and has actually declined over recent years.”
Longtime anti-gambling activist Will Prochaska used the WARC estimate to say that if gambling firms were “asked to pay a bit more tax in the upcoming budget,” then instead of letting staff go, they could lessen their ad spending and payouts to bettors.
“But that’s a choice for them,” Prochaska posed.
Not so simple
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Senior Vice President Strategic Insight Alun Bowden, meanwhile, said cutting ad spending would be the first thing gambling firms would do given a tax hike, but that it would play into the hands of sophisticated illegal offshore operators.
“If 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.”
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