A recent audit has highlighted a significant shortfall in the investment by gambling operators in responsible gambling communications. The report warns that this disparity may increasingly influence regulatory interactions, investor views, and AI-generated search outcomes.
According to the findings from communications firm 5W, the U.S. gambling sector allocated approximately $520 million to partnerships with celebrities and athletes in 2025. In stark contrast, only about $60 million was directed towards responsible gambling initiatives and communications, marking an investment ratio of roughly 8.7 to 1.
The total marketing and advertising expenditure for operators was estimated at $3.9 billion for the year, with responsible gambling initiatives making up a mere 1.5% of this total.
Researchers emphasize that this imbalance is becoming increasingly significant, affecting not just consumer marketing but also regulatory relationships, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) evaluations, and AI search results.
The audit, which spans two years and assesses 30 operators in sports betting, iGaming, and land-based casinos, analyzed over 47,000 media articles, regulatory documents, ESG disclosures, and AI-generated search results.
Television advertising emerged as the largest marketing expenditure, costing $1.42 billion, which accounts for over a third of the total spending. Digital performance marketing followed, comprising about $980 million, while partnerships with celebrities and athletes accounted for $520 million. In contrast, earned media and public relations expenditures were limited to $90 million, representing just 2.3% of the total budget.
Out of the 12 publicly traded gambling operators examined, only four reported responsible gambling investments as a percentage of their marketing budgets in their annual reports. The others either provided only dollar amounts or did not separate this spending.
The audit also pointed out a lack of proactive engagement with regulators. In 11 out of 38 legal markets, state gaming commissioners indicated in public testimonies or commission meetings that they receive responsible gambling communications from fewer than three operators annually.
Furthermore, the audit scrutinized rulemaking comments submitted to state gaming control boards across 12 states during the study period. BetMGM/MGM Resorts was noted for its proactive engagement with regulators in nine states, the highest among the operators. DraftKings followed with eight states, while FanDuel engaged in seven.
BetMGM was recognized as the leader in responsible gambling communications within the sports betting sector, outperforming DraftKings and FanDuel. The operators with the lowest rankings included ESPN Bet, Fanatics Sportsbook, and bet365.
In the iGaming category, BetMGM also achieved the highest score. The report included some sweepstakes casino operators, with stake.us receiving the lowest score overall, as its responsible gambling communications infrastructure was deemed poorly developed despite a strong marketing presence in U.S. markets.
Additionally, MGM Resorts International, co-owner of BetMGM, received the top score among land-based casino operators.
The audit further explored how major AI platforms represent operators’ responsible gambling programs. Researchers tested 12 standardized prompts across various AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity Pro, Google Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, running each prompt 20 times.
The findings indicated that operators with extensive libraries of published responsible gambling content were more frequently featured in AI-generated responses regarding player protection and trustworthiness compared to those with less visible communications.