U.S. gambling sector spends more on endorsements than responsible gambling

• 5W Research Division study probed the marketing spend of U.S. gambling operators in 2025, uncovering interesting trends
• Notably, licensed operators spent significantly more on athlete and celebrity endorsements than responsible gambling, the research found
• The spend on responsible gambling campaigns and communications in 2025 was $60m, whereas celebrity endorsements partnership were a estimated $520m

Celebrity and athlete endorsements spent by the U.S. gambling industry is eight times more when compared to the spent on responsible gambling and communications, newly released research warns.

That’s evident from the 5W Responsible Gambling Communications Audit 2026 by the 5W Research Division, a leading AI communications firm.

An 8.7 to 1 ratio in favor of endorsements

The research included an audit review of 30 operators in iGaming, online casino, sports betting and land-based casino gambling.

Per the new data, the U.S. gambling industry spent $3.9bn on marketing and advertising in 2025.

Of that total, a whopping $520m was spent on celebrity and athlete endorsement partnerships.

In contrast, only $60m was dedicated to responsible gambling programs and communications, the newly released report uncovered.

A comparison of the two figures outlines an 8.7 to 1 ratio, meaning that the spend on endorsements was nearly nine times more than what was spent for responsible gambling.

According to 5W Research Division, the ratio is "the highest of any regulated American consumer category with a public-health dimension."

Ronn Torossian, Founder and Chairman of 5W, spoke about the newly released results, Casino Guru News learned from a press release.

"The gambling industry has built the most visible advertising ecosystem in American consumer marketing in five years. It has not built the credibility infrastructure to match it," he said.

Moreover, Torossian pointed out: "The 8.7-to-1 ratio is no longer a marketing department metric. It is a capital markets metric. It is in Sustainalytics. It is in MSCI. It is in legislative testimony in California, Texas, and Florida. And it is in the answer ChatGPT gives a parent who asks which sportsbook is safe for their kid in college."

Other consumer categories in the U.S. demonstrate a significantly lower ratio like alcohol, for example, which has a 4 to 1 ratio, or tobacco that has 1.5 to 1 ratio.

Equally important, the 5W RG Communications Index provided a score for each analyzed operator on a 100-point scale.

Per this classification, MGM Resorts International was recognized for its dedication to responsible gambling with an 81/100 score, BetMGM Sportsbook recorded 78/100 score, BetMGM Casino had a 74/100 score, while DraftKings and FanDuel’s scores were 71/100 and 66/100, respectively.

To address potential challenges, the research made five recommendations for investments in communications.

Those include disclosures about responsible gambling investment as a percentage of marketing spend, the development of owned-media responsible gambling content that can be cited by AI search engines, as well as proactive engagement with regulators in pre-legalization markets.

Other recommendations include bolstering executive visibility on responsible gambling topics "outside crisis windows," and allocating between 3% and 5% points of "marketing budget toward earned media at parity with celebrity partnerships — representing $117M to $195M redirected at industry scale."

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