An exploration of the messages contained within British gambling advertising

Abstract

After the implementation of the 2005 Gambling Act, the landscape of British gambling was dramatically transformed. One area of great change was the loosening of advertising restrictions. the greater presence of gambling advertisements has led to concerns about their possible negative impact. However, very little attention has been paid to the actual content of the advertisements. This research aims to provide detailed insight into the messaged contained within gambling advertisements on both traditional and newer technological platforms of advertising. Using qualitative content analysis, different types of gambling advertisements were observed in order to discover what messages they contained and how they were communicated. Advertisements were observed to use a straightforward and direct method of written, verbal and visual communication of different messages to costumers. Gambling was presented as: being available with great immediacy and variety; consistently good value for money; lower risk that commonly perceived; full of fun and thrilling experiential qualities; a social activity; an activity that values knowledge; having a strong connection to the experience of following sports; and being committed to responsible gambling. These messages were evidence of the new era of gambling in Great Britain brought on by the 2005 Gambling Act and showed an active effort from operators to push the positive elements of gambling in contrast to the traditional negative anti-gambling views. Overall the research provided sufficient evidence of the wealth of messages.