A study by GambleAware has claimed that operator safer gambling ads have a reverse effect, but it’s not without speculation.

Commissioned by the safer gambling charity, consultancy group Thinks Insight & Strategy looked at problem gambling campaigns produced by five different entities – GambleAware itself, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), Betfair, William Hill, and 888, the latter two owned by the evoke Group.

The research paper was conducted as a Randomised Controlled Trial with a total pool of 4,013 participants. The charity did note that this presents a risk of bias, as only 443 participants meaningfully engaged with the practical part of the exam.

Participants were presented with a random safer gambling video from the catalogue, after which a pop-up of a mockup betting app was shown on screen, prompting the viewer to claim a free bet.

According to the study, the ad by GambleAware had the lowest click-through rate (3%) towards the betting app. This was followed by Betfair’s ad (4%) and BGC’s (6%). William Hill (18%) and evoke (15%) ads had the highest rates.

Alexia Clifford, GambleAware Chief Communications Officer, said: “This new research shows that so-called ‘safer gambling’ videos produced by gambling operators could be doing more harm than good. It’s unacceptable that adverts claiming to help people reduce their risk of harm are encouraging people to gamble more instead.”

Clifford called for more monitoring of industry-led ad campaigns led by stronger legislation on gambling marketing and advertising.

Potential for biases

As noted above, the report highlights that there was room for biases, with the researchers pointing that there were a list of limitations as far as the methodology is concerned.

As mentioned previously, any concrete conclusions are impossible due to the small number of participants (443) that went through with the betting app. 

Furthermore, the research measured click-through rates to the mock gambling app instead of actual wagers placed. The authors highlighted that it is difficult to get an accurate estimate of actual gambling harm risks without direct evidence of financial expenditure.

Finally, the survey acknowledged that questions were placed at the end of the experiment, which could’ve led to a “cognitive fatigue” that led respondents to answers which they would’ve otherwise answered differently – essentially inflating PGSI scores.

GambleAware will stop existing in March 2026 as a result of a new UK statutory framework which will see the NHS manage all research, education and treatment funding to combat gambling-related harms.