Gambling advertisements and logos are seen up to every 13 seconds throughout major sports games in the United States.
According to research by the University of Bristol that was exclusively published in the Guardian, viewers of June’s NHL Stanley Cup finals saw an average of 3.5 marketing messages from online casinos every minute.
Researchers analysed gambling marketing during the six Stanley Cup games between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers plus the seven NBA Finals clashes between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.
Across the 13 games, 6,282 instances of gambling-related marketing were recorded which included gambling logos on jerseys, rinkside and courtside ads, as well as in-game mentions and commercials.
94% of those instances happened during NHL games and the most saturated broadcast featured 4.7 gambling-related marketing messages per minute – which works out as one every 13 seconds.
The NBA broadcasts were not nearly as heavy, averaging just 0.26 gambling references per minute and researchers noted that could be down to basketball’s prominence on platforms such as YouTube which heavily restricts gambling advertisement.
Each broadcast was reviewed as well as pre-game coverage and experts found that the most common formats for advertisement were in-stadium visuals, which appear on rinkside boards, electronic boards, jersey patches and other static structures.
Researches noted this type of advertising gives gambling firms ‘persistent exposure’ throughout games and logo placement was the most prevalent type. Commercials weren’t quite as prolific but still contributed to the overall picture.
The NBA partnered with popular sports betting apps FanDuel and DraftKings in 2021. The league has been known to embrace casino sponsorships and legal betting since the supreme court overturned a federal ban on sports betting in 2018.
Currently, there are 17 NHL teams who have partnered with sports betting and casino brands on multi-year deals and the league has agreements with Penn Entertainment, BetMGM and Caesars Entertainment.
Joe Lyons is a betting industry writer for GamblingIndustryNews with years of experience on reputable gambling websites. Joe specialises in long form content in the world of sports betting and gambling. Joe is recognised as an expert in sports fields such as horse racing, soccer, NFL and NBA.
