AGA supports gambling ads

After years of critics suggesting that gambling ads are oversaturated in the US, America’s leading gaming group has claimed the opposite could be true.

to keep bettors away from illegal outfits

The American Gaming Association (AGA), the national trade group for sports betting and casino companies, said that widespread gambling ads are crucial for the success of the companies it represents and to keep bettors away from illegal outfits.

Nefarious betting sites include offshore sportsbooks, which often exploit uninformed consumers who are not entitled to basic protections.

Steering bettors down the right path

The AGA delivered its verdict on sportsbook messaging in a recent statement regarding advertising trends within the gambling industry.

“Advertising by legal sportsbooks plays an important role in informing consumers about legitimate betting operators and in migrating those consumers to safe betting options,” the AGA wrote. “The widespread legalization of sports betting brought with it advertising for legal, regulated sportsbooks that compete for consumer attention with illegal offshore books.”

The AGA noted that, according to previous research, 70% of sports bettors who primarily frequented offshore sportsbooks did not know they were using illegal outfits.?

A 2022 study revealed that bettors risked an estimated $63.8bn annually at offshore sportsbooks. Although several states have since legalized sports betting, the general interest in gambling has also increased nationwide.

All of this flies in the face of the industry trends. Many sportsbooks recently pulled back on advertising costs in the pursuit of profitability and higher returns.

cut their net advertising spend by 21% year-on-year

Advertising and marketing technology news site Ad Age claimed that gambling companies cut their net advertising spend by 21% year-on-year in 2023 compared to 2022.?

Advertising research firm MediaRadar backed up that statement with its research. It found that year-on-year ad spending dropped 13% for DraftKings, 17% for FanDuel, and 26% for BetMGM, the three largest sports betting companies in America.?

At the same time, several companies increased their advertising allocations. For example, leading daily fantasy sports operator PrizePicks quadrupled its advertising budget.

Pushback from lawmakers

As popular as sports betting has become in the US, Nielsen Ad Intel reported that operators’ advertisements only accounted for 0.4% of total television advertisements in 2023.?

That’s less than other common industries such as pharmaceuticals (14.1%) and telecommunications services (1.5%). It’s also still behind products with harmful downsides, including fast food (3.8%) and alcohol (0.5%).?

Still, many lawmakers worry that gambling ads are becoming too popular. 

ban sports betting advertisements during live sports events

US Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) in March introduced the Supporting Affordability and Fairness With Every Bet Act (SAFE Bet Act), which aimed to ban sports betting advertisements during live sports events and to prohibit tempting messaging in advertisements. That includes terms such as “risk-free bets,” “free bets,” and odds boosts.?

“I think this unrestricted, Wild West environment is not helpful to anybody, and we think it’s necessary to have some restrictions so there are not these targeted audiences that are preyed upon [by gambling companies],” said Tonko.

The bill has not made any substantial progress in Congress.

Local officials can take solace in recent action against offshore sportsbooks. Regulators in several states sent cease-and-desist orders to the parent company of Bovada, one of the largest offshore sportsbooks in operation, Harp Media, prompting the company to block transactions in numerous jurisdictions. Those include:

• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• West Virginia
• Washington DC