Marketing is Responsible Gambling

Gambling remains a popular form of entertainment for a wide range of adults. Gambling activities offer recreational fun and excitement, while also providing potential for financial gain.

However, as the gambling industry grows, fueled by the relatively recent changes in sports betting, there is a concomitant growing need for a balanced approach within the industry to ensure that all forms of gambling remain an enjoyable and safe activity.

A safe activity prevents participating individuals from engaging in behaviors that will likely produce some element of harm to the individual. Harms can be financial, emotional, or relational, and preventing harm is the foundation of responsible gambling. Hence, the concept of responsible gambling remains a critical initiative within the gambling industry to protect individuals from experiencing harm while promoting sustainable industry practices.

To achieve this two-pronged goal, marketing is crucial, because, by definition, marketing is designed to influence individual perceptions and affect personal choice behavior. Social marketing, a type of marketing utilized to influence individual behavior and encourage social change while seeking the “common good,” does just that, but also fosters a culture of responsibility. Therefore, gambling and responsible gambling are closely intertwined and must be marketed consistently, authentically, and ethically.

Raising Awareness

Marketing and advertising play a powerful role in both gambling experiences and raising awareness about responsible gambling practices. Prosocial advertising, a subset of social marketing, is grounded in a social issue affecting a large population of society, and seeks to catalyze positive societal change.

Prosocial messages have become a popular form of advertising to promote individual causes and ideas to help society and foster well-being. As such, traditional advertising, social media advertising and other promotional tools are conduits to communicating a range of information about both gambling activities and the societal concept of responsible gambling, including educational content, informing consumers about the need to set limits, how to recognize signs of problem gambling, how to keep recreational gambling in check, and how to seek help when needed.

Specifically, clear and engaging messages must be created to effectively convey that gambling is, in reality, a type of entertainment for enjoyment, and one that demands regular monitoring; it is not a means to generate income.

For example, the popular U.K. campaign “When the Fun Stops, Stop” is considered a successful marketing campaign developed to promote both moderation and mindfulness in gambling.

If the gambling industry emphasizes transparency in its marketing practices, a well-designed, creative and authentic campaign can potentially demystify the concept of responsible gambling, making it more easily understandable, more accessible to a wider audience, and more readily acceptable as a term embraced by recreational players.

Because evidence exists that the concept of responsible gambling is often misunderstood and even conflated with problem gambling (for example, see Stafford et al, 2024), developing clear, intelligible messages is particularly important. This can potentially help any player recognize that responsible gambling is fully aligned with having fun; it is not a stigmatized term that is reserved for those with gambling problems.

Both on-ground and online legal gambling operators typically offer several self-regulation tools such as deposit limits, time trackers and self-exclusion options. However, many gamblers are unaware these tools exist, and marketing the availability of these options can effectively ensure that players are aware of their benefits and utilize them before gambling causes harm and manifests as a problem.

For instance, an advertisement for a type of game may use a slice-of-life advertising appeal (an appeal that integrates a real-life situation/solution into an ad), and depict an individual embracing the use of one of these tools, such as setting personalized spending limits, as a solution to an individual concern while engaging in recreational play. This type of advertisement demonstrates that options exist to support individuals while maintaining fun and safety in their recreational gambling activities.

This type of ad is not targeted to problem gamblers; rather, it is directed to the typical recreational gambler who may identify with the situation depicted in the ad, and acknowledge that the advertised tools are part of safe, recreational play. As such, employing this type of advertising appeal can emphasize a commitment to player well-being, something that has moved to the societal forefront, and a concept that ensures players continue to enjoy entertaining gaming activities in a healthy and fun manner. This ultimately results in sustainable play for both the customer and the operator.

Ethical and authentic responsible marketing practices are key to establishing trust between gambling operators and their customers because these practices can demonstrate an organization’s commitment to safeguarding their players’ interests while crafting an authentic image that reflects company integrity and customer well-being.

As a result, the operator’s reputation may be strengthened while contributing to long-term customer loyalty. In turn, this may enhance a company’s brand position and help establish a competitive advantage.

Critical to maintaining this competitive advantage, however, is validation of the authenticity of the marketer and the message, because marketing research emphasizes the importance of authenticity in promotional strategies. Moreover, well-developed and carefully crafted marketing practices can help avoid the potential of mixed messages that may glorify gambling and its excitement while including the regulation-required “gamble responsibly” directive.

These mixed messages are common because operators often develop communications that emotionally capture their audience, but must still comply with regulations. Further, these mingled messages can create cognitive dissonance for the consumer who wants to engage in exciting entertainment but wonders what gambling responsibly really means.

Marketing and the consumer

How gambling is marketed and advertised has a profound influence on consumer decision-making, individual choices, and subsequent behavior. Gambling operators must ensure their advertisements are not misleading, do not glamorize excessive gambling, and do not ignore potential risks.

Rather, marketing messages must convey realistic expectations while also ensuring potential customers that the company cares about them and offers services to enhance their entertainment through the availability of tools that can ensure their safety and minimize harm during their gambling experiences. This is particularly important for those individuals who may be at higher risk for developing gambling disorders.

Therefore, operators must create, develop and execute marketing and advertising strategies that achieve the delicate balance between effective promotional ads that directly influence consumer play/corporate profitability and responsible gambling that ensures consumer well-being.

Perhaps even more importantly, these marketing and advertising strategies must be backed by operator actions that include transparent policies, technology-driven solutions, and continuous employee and consumer education. Responsible gambling cannot be just a ploy or a gimmick that resembles “greenwashing” in the environmental market.

Greenwashing is generally considered a negative and potentially deceptive practice that an organization uses to persuade consumers that the company, its policies or its products are environmentally friendly. Therefore, responsible gambling must be a genuine commitment by a gambling operator that is embraced by the company, marketed appropriately, and executed authentically.

The concept should be aligned with corporate and player sustainability, perceived company authenticity, and player well-being. Such strategies are utilized commonly in other industries, but in the controversial gambling world, the challenge is heightened, and the ethical merits are often questioned. Responsible gambling is both a moral imperative and an ethical obligation that rests on the shoulders of both the industry and its customers. It is a joint outcome of effective marketing, consumer education and awareness, and company authenticity.

In sum, marketing plays a role in responsible gambling that goes far beyond promoting the gambling product and including compliance-based statements. Rather, marketing is critical to fostering a sustainable and ethical industry. In addition to promoting recreational play, industry marketing has a responsibility to provide consumers with important information including available tools that can enhance recreational play, and demonstrate a commitment to player well-being.

To ensure industry sustainability and player safety, it is the ethical thing to do.