5W Research Division July 03, 2026

U.S. Gambling Industry Spent 8.7x More on Celebrity Endorsements Than on Responsible-Gambling Messaging

The research arm of the public-relations firm 5W analyzed two years of U.S. gambling-industry data across 30 major operators and found the sector spent 8.7 times as much on celebrity endorsements as on responsible-gambling messaging — roughly $520 million on celebrity partnerships versus $60 million on problem-gambling communication. The report frames that gap as far wider than in other regulated industries it benchmarked: tobacco's ratio sits below 1.5-to-1 and alcohol around 4-to-1. Drawing on earned-media data, corporate ESG disclosures, and state-regulator filings, the analysis argues the imbalance shapes how investors, regulators, and the public read the industry's commitment to harm reduction. Put plainly: for every dollar the industry spent telling people how to gamble safely, it spent nearly nine putting a famous face behind the invitation to gamble.

Our Thoughts

Nearly every sportsbook ad closes with a quiet little tag: gamble responsibly, call the helpline. This report puts a price on how sincere that tag is. When a company spends nearly nine dollars recruiting a beloved athlete or actor for every one dollar it spends on the safety message, the safety message isn’t the strategy — it’s the disclaimer. The celebrity is the product; ‘responsible gambling’ is the receipt.

We’d flag the messenger: 5W is a PR firm, and a splashy ratio is itself good publicity for a research division, so treat the exact figures as directional rather than gospel. But the direction isn’t seriously in doubt, and it rhymes with a pattern we keep documenting — an industry borrowing Big Tobacco’s oldest move of wrapping a harmful product in the language of health and personal choice. The precise numbers may be arguable; the imbalance is the point, and it’s the same imbalance a person feels when the app knows their name but the helpline is an afterthought in six-point type.

If ‘gamble responsibly’ has stopped being possible for you no matter how hard you try, the failure isn’t yours — you were out-spent nine to one. The counterweight the industry underfunds is the thing that actually works: other people, in a room, telling the truth. Find a free online meeting whenever you’re ready.

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