Gambling Logos and Ads Seen Every 13 Seconds During Big Sports Games in US, New Study Shows

Hockey fans are bombarded with gambling logos and adverts – sometimes as often as every 13 seconds – during TV coverage of high-profile games, according to a new exclusive research.

Viewers of June’s Stanley Cup finals encountered an average of 3.5 marketing messages from betting firms every minute, the new study by the University of Bristol found.

Since the supreme court overturned a federal ban on sports betting in 2018, the US gambling industry has surged. Now, sports betting is legal in 39 states and Washington DC – and online betting companies have spent billions of dollars in an effort to attract users in an increasingly competitive market.

The study by researchers at the University of Bristol, who shared their work in the The Guardian, analysed gambling marketing during the six Stanley Cup finals games this year between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, and the seven NBA finals games between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Across those 13 games, researchers recorded 6282 instances of gambling-related marketing. This included gambling company logos on jerseys, rinkside and courtside ads, in-game mentions and commercials. Notably 94% of the instances were recorded during the NHL broadcasts.

The report found that, on average, gambling logos and ads were shown 3.5 times per minute during the NHL games, with the most saturated game featuring 4.7 gambling-related marketing instances per minute – equating to one every 13 seconds.

In contrast, the NBA broadcasts averaged just 0.26 gambling references per minute. This disparity may be partly due to the NBA’s growing use of platforms such as YouTube, which imposes stricter limits on gambling ads, the researchers noted.

The academics reviewed each broadcast as well as the pre-game coverage. The study found that the most common formats for gambling messaging were in-stadium visuals, which appeared on rinkside boards, electronic boards, jersey patches and other static structures.

This type of advertising, they noted, gives brands “persistent exposure” throughout the game. Logo placement was the most prevalent type of advertising during the games. Commercials were less frequent but still contributed to the overall volume.