Audit: $520M for Celebrity Deals vs $60M for Responsible Gambling

U.S. Gambling Industry Spent $520 Million on Celebrity Deals in 2025 – Audit Highlights Gap With Responsible Gambling Investment

Key Takeaways

• The U.S. gambling industry spent an estimated $520 million on celebrity and athlete partnerships in 2025.
• Responsible gambling programs and communications accounted for about $60 million, or 1.5% of total marketing spend.
• Total marketing and advertising expenditure reached $3.9 billion, with television as the largest channel at $1.42 billion.
• Only 4 of 12 publicly traded operators reviewed disclose responsible gambling spending as a percentage of marketing costs.
• Operators with more published responsible gambling content appeared more frequently in AI-generated search responses.

Audit Reviews Marketing and Responsible Gambling Spending

A new audit by communications firm 5W estimates that U.S. gambling operators spent $520 million on celebrity and athlete endorsements in 2025. During the same period, approximately $60 million was allocated to responsible gambling programs and related communications.

According to the report, total marketing and advertising expenditure across the industry reached $3.9 billion in 2025. Responsible gambling initiatives represented about 1.5% of that total. The audit covered a two-year period and reviewed 30 operators across sports betting, iGaming and land-based casinos.

Researchers analyzed more than 47,000 media articles, regulatory filings, ESG disclosures and AI-generated search responses to assess how operators communicate responsible gambling commitments and how visible those efforts are across public channels.

Television and Digital Channels Dominate Marketing Budgets

Television advertising accounted for the largest share of overall marketing spend. Operators invested $1.42 billion in TV campaigns, representing more than one third of total marketing expenditure.

Digital performance marketing followed at approximately $980 million, or about one quarter of the total. Celebrity and athlete partnerships ranked next at $520 million.

Earned media and public relations represented a comparatively small share. The report estimates $90 million was allocated to those activities, equivalent to 2.3% of total marketing spending.

For users of betting and casino platforms, these figures illustrate where operators concentrate visibility efforts. High-profile partnerships and broadcast advertising remain central to brand positioning, while responsible gambling communication forms a limited portion of overall outreach.

Limited Disclosure of Responsible Gambling Investment

The audit also examined transparency in corporate reporting. Of the 12 publicly traded gambling operators included in the review, only four disclose responsible gambling investment as a percentage of marketing expenditure in their annual reports.

The remaining companies either report absolute dollar figures without context or do not break out responsible gambling spending separately. This distinction affects how investors and stakeholders can evaluate the relative scale of player protection initiatives compared to acquisition-driven marketing.

The report links this disclosure gap to broader ESG assessments. Responsible gambling policies and communications are increasingly included in environmental, social and governance evaluations, which can influence investor perception and access to capital.

Regulatory Engagement Varies Across States

Beyond marketing spend, the audit assessed how proactively operators engage with regulators on responsible gambling topics.

State gaming commissioners in 11 of 38 legal markets stated in public testimony or commission meetings that they receive proactive responsible gambling communications from fewer than three operators per year.

The study also reviewed rulemaking comments submitted to gaming control boards in 12 states during the review period. BetMGM and its co-owner MGM Resorts engaged regulators proactively in nine of those states, the highest number recorded. DraftKings engaged in eight states, while FanDuel did so in seven.

This data highlights differences in how operators interact with regulators outside formal licensing processes. For platforms operating across multiple jurisdictions, documented engagement can shape relationships with state authorities.

Responsible Gambling Communications Index Rankings

5W created a Responsible Gambling Communications Index to rank operators. Companies were scored on a 100-point scale across five dimensions: investment transparency, earned media footprint, executive visibility, regulator engagement and AI citation frequency.

In the sports betting category, BetMGM ranked first, followed by DraftKings and FanDuel. ESPN Bet, Fanatics Sportsbook and bet365 received the lowest scores in that segment.

Among iGaming operators, BetMGM also achieved the highest score. In the sweepstakes casino segment, stake.us ranked lowest overall. According to the audit, stake.us had the least developed responsible gambling communications infrastructure among the operators studied, despite maintaining a significant marketing presence in U.S. markets.

In the land-based casino category, MGM Resorts International received the highest overall score.

AI Platforms Reflect Published Responsible Gambling Content

The audit assessed how major AI systems describe operators when responding to questions about player protection and trustworthiness.

Researchers ran 12 standardized prompts across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity Pro, Google Gemini and Google AI Overviews, repeating each prompt 20 times. Operators with larger libraries of published responsible gambling content appeared more frequently in AI-generated responses.

BetMGM and DraftKings were cited most often in answers related to responsible gambling. The report attributes this visibility to the volume of indexed and publicly available content on the topic.

For users who rely on AI tools to compare betting platforms, these findings suggest that published responsible gambling materials influence how operators are represented in automated search outputs.

Survey Data Questions Impact of Celebrity Endorsements

The audit was released as broader industry discussions continue about the effectiveness of celebrity marketing.

Earlier in 2026, YouGov reported that about 70% of U.S. adults said celebrity endorsements did not change their opinion of a gambling product. Among active gamblers, 43% stated that celebrity partnerships helped brands stand out. Four in ten said they would be more likely to consider an operator featuring a celebrity.

At the same time, around one in ten gamblers said celebrity endorsements worsened their perception of a brand.

These findings indicate that while celebrity partnerships can generate visibility, their influence on consumer attitudes varies.

Our Assessment

The audit documents a substantial difference between spending on celebrity marketing and investment in responsible gambling communications in 2025. It also shows variation in disclosure practices, regulator engagement and AI visibility among major operators. For users and market observers, the report highlights how marketing budgets, transparency and published responsible gambling content shape both regulatory relationships and digital search representation across the U.S. gambling sector.