University of Bristol study: gambling advertising still dominates Premier League coverage

The University of Bristol recorded 15,571 gambling advertising messages during the Premier League opening weekend, between 21 and 24 August 2026. The team led by Dr Raffaello Rossi concludes the new front-of-shirt restriction barely reduced exposure and that gambling marketing remained visible for almost 20% of live broadcast time.

Key findings of the study

The analysis quantified 15.571 gambling advertising messages in total across the examined sample. Researchers assessed every Premier League match broadcast live in the United Kingdom during the opening weekend (21–24 August), plus 15 hours of Sky Sports News broadcasts and 15 hours of TalkSport programming. They also reviewed organic and paid social media advertising from ten major gambling brands with the largest followings.

During live broadcasts researchers counted 11.205 messages across seven matches, with gambling marketing visible for five hours and 16 minutes in total — nearly 20% of live broadcast time. The Newcastle United versus Liverpool fixture had the highest exposure: 2.702 messages in that match, an average of more than 12 messages per minute and advertising present for almost 41% of the broadcast time.

Effect of the front-of-shirt restriction and changes in brand placement

The study notes the front-of-shirt restriction reduced the presence of logos on shirt fronts, but the contribution to the overall reduction in live broadcasts was only 10,5%. At the same time, the presence of gambling brands on shirt sleeves and training wear increased by 362% compared with previous years.

The paper also identifies that pitchside perimeter advertising continued to dominate exposure, accounting for 72% of all messages during live broadcasts.

“Premier League broadcasts contained more gambling messages per match than any other jurisdiction in our comparison, including Germany, Canada and the United States,” said Dr Raffaello Rossi, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bristol Business School and Co-Director of the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research.

International comparison and time series

In the four-year series analysed by the researchers, Premier League broadcasts averaged 2.449 messages per match. By comparison, the mean was 1.677 messages per match in the German Bundesliga, 483 in US NBA and NHL coverage, and 505 in those leagues in Canada.

The 2026 results were lower than 2025, but 41,57% higher than the 10.999 messages recorded in 2023, the year new restrictions were anticipated. The 2,637 messages detected on Sky Sports News and the 207 on TalkSport included findings on advertising volume where listeners heard at least one gambling ad in each commercial break on TalkSport.

Social media advertising and reach by age

Researchers identified 1.023 paid ads on Facebook and Instagram, with an estimated UK reach of 153,2 million accounts. Accounts of users aged 18 to 24 represented 16,6 million instances of that reach — more than 10% of the total — and over three quarters of that younger audience were male.

The report notes the formal industry Code requires paid digital advertising to be targeted at people aged 25 years or older unless reliable age‑filtering is demonstrated, but documents that exemptions appear in an undated Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) page that was modified to add Instagram without a public notice or a detailed change log.

“A system where industry can rewrite its own safeguards without notice or independent oversight is neither transparent nor robust,” Dr Rossi said.

Identification and regulation of advertising

The study found that 93% of marketing content linked to gambling was not clearly identifiable as advertising and that unlicensed brands continued to gain exposure during Premier League coverage. In the United Kingdom gambling advertising is regulated through a mix of self-regulation — via the Advertising Standards Authority — and voluntary industry codes.

The authors will present their findings today to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Reform (APPG) where they will discuss where the regulatory approach is failing and what additional measures Government needs to take to reduce exposure and prevent gambling-related harms. The report was funded by the University of Bristol and is part of the four-study series from the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research that has already influenced public policy.

Public reactions

Peter Shilton CBE and his wife Steph, sponsors of the research, said the figures were “deeply concerning” and noted removing front-of-shirt logos has reduced that form of exposure, but that overall visibility of gambling during matches remains high. Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Co-Chair of the APPG for Gambling Reform, said the findings prove the voluntary approach to football advertising has failed and called for stricter regulation to close gaps in the current system.

As Regulatory Correspondent, Miguel Sandoval covers the report presentation at the APPG session and the data the University of Bristol has made available for public analysis.