By Lucy caulkett-
A House of Lords committee has called for a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising across Great Britain, warning that gambling-related harm remains a major public health issue and arguing that voluntary restrictions have failed to adequately curb exposure to betting promotions.
The recommendation comes in a new follow-up report, Gambling Harm—Time for Action: Follow-up report, published by the House of Lords Liaison Committee on 17 September 2026.
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The report revisits the findings of the Lords’ 2020 Gambling Industry Committee and argues that the Government should fundamentally rethink its approach to gambling advertising, placing public health and harm reduction at the centre of future policy.
The committee says between one million and 1.5 million adults in Great Britain gamble in ways that may be described as problem gambling, describing the scale of harm as a continuing public health concern.
It argues that a comprehensive advertising ban represents the most effective policy option for meaningfully reducing gambling-related harm, while acknowledging that more targeted restrictions could also be developed and evaluated.
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The latest intervention is significant because it returns to recommendations first made six years ago in the landmark Gambling Harm—Time for Action report.
Published in July 2020, that report warned that gambling harm was being overlooked compared with alcohol and drug addiction and called for urgent action to protect consumers.
At the time, the Lords committee highlighted the rapid growth of gambling advertising, the expansion of online gambling and the particular vulnerability of children and young people.
The original report estimated that around a third of a million people were problem gamblers and said the consequences extended far beyond individuals, affecting families and communities through issues including family breakdown, crime, loss of employment and housing.
It also highlighted the enormous scale of gambling marketing, reporting that the industry was spending around £1.5 billion a year on advertising.
One of the most important warnings from Time for Action concerned the growing reach of gambling advertising. The 2020 committee found that gambling marketing had expanded sharply following the Gambling Act 2005, with internet advertising accounting for the largest share of spending.
It reported that gambling companies spent around £747 million on direct online marketing in 2017, while social media expenditure had more than tripled over the preceding three years.
The report also raised concerns about children being exposed to gambling advertising online. Evidence presented to the committee included research in which child-like online profiles were exposed to gambling adverts on websites and video platforms aimed at younger audiences.
The committee concluded that gambling advertising seen by children and young people could have serious repercussions later in life, and called for independent research into the relationship between advertising and gambling-related harm.
Six years on, the latest Lords inquiry argues that many of those concerns remain unresolved. The committee is particularly critical of the industry’s voluntary approach to reducing gambling advertising in sport.
It says there is considerable evidence that voluntary measures have not been effective in reducing overall exposure and questions whether the Premier League’s ban on gambling sponsors appearing on the front of football shirts goes far enough.
Instead, it wants gambling operators prevented from advertising on sports shirts and other parts of team kit, including training wear.
It is also calling for gambling advertising to be prohibited in and around sports grounds and venues, as well as in sports programmes. The committee has warned that without comprehensive restrictions, advertising could simply move from one platform to another.
The recommendation echoes the direction of travel set out in Time for Action, which called in 2020 for gambling operators to be removed from sports shirts and prohibited from advertising in or around sports grounds and venues.
That earlier report also recommended restrictions on inducements designed to encourage people to begin or continue gambling. The latest committee has gone further by identifying newer forms of promotion that could undermine restrictions.
It recommends prohibiting influencers and content creators from promoting licensed gambling operators and establishing a new licensing regime for affiliates — websites and other intermediaries that generate business for gambling companies.
The committee has also taken aim at the argument that tighter advertising restrictions could push gamblers towards the illegal market. While acknowledging the need for stronger action against unregulated gambling, it says it remains unconvinced that restricting advertising by licensed operators would necessarily drive customers into the illegal sector.
It argues that concern about the black market should not prevent action against harms associated with the licensed industry. If a comprehensive ban is not immediately introduced, the Lords committee wants gambling advertising to be placed under the control of a statutory regulator with strong enforcement powers.
It identifies the Gambling Commission as the body that appears best placed to take on that responsibility, provided it receives the necessary resources and specialist staff.
The committee’s proposed approach is deliberately precautionary. It argues that, given the lack of evidence demonstrating that gambling advertising is safe and evidence indicating links between advertising, participation and harm, policy should be guided by the principle that gambling should be tolerated rather than actively promoted.
Lord Foster of Bath, a member of the former committee and acting former chair, said reducing gambling participation would reduce the harm associated with problem gambling.
He also pointed to research from the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research suggesting that a 10% reduction in gambling expenditure could increase gross value added by £1.25 billion and create more than 22,000 jobs.
The committee is not, however, proposing identical restrictions for every form of gambling. It recommends that on-course advertising for betting on horseracing and greyhound racing should be exempt from the proposed ban, while the Government should separately assess the level of risk associated with lottery advertising.
The report therefore marks a renewed challenge to the Government over an issue first placed firmly on the political agenda by Time for Action in 2020.
Six years after the original Lords committee warned that gambling harm demanded urgent attention, the latest report argues that the advertising environment has changed substantially while the underlying public health concerns remain.
The central question now is whether the Government will turn the Lords’ latest recommendations into policy — and whether Britain’s increasingly sophisticated gambling advertising landscape will continue to be regulated thrrough incremental restrictions or face the comprehensive reset demanded by the committee.
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