Gambling firms accused of spending 'astronomic' £2bn on advertising

British gambling companies spent an “astronomic” £2bn on advertising and marketing last year, according to an estimate that has intensified calls for the chancellor to increase taxes on the sector.

- Rob Davies Mark Sweney

Bookmakers, online casinos and slot machine companies spent the sum through print and digital promotions, as well as affiliate programmes where third parties were paid to steer gamblers towards particular operators in return for a fee.

The figure, produced by the media insights group WARC, far outstrips the £1.2bn that the Treasury collected last year from online casino companies. Media industry sources said the total spent on gambling advertising was likely to be hundreds of millions of pounds higher because it was difficult to accurately measure the actual amount spent on digital marketing.

That means the true figure could be close to, or even higher than, the £2.5bn raised last year by the three main duties that the industry pays, which also include taxes levied on slot machines and sports bets.