New analysis published in the BMJ reveals the UK gambling industry is mimicking the tactics first used by Big Tobacco decades ago to downplay the harms of gambling and influence policy, including to avoid stricter regulation.

The authors, a team of experts from the University of Bath, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and Universities of Cambridge, Goldsmiths and Edinburgh, compared the rhetorical strategies of the two industries in public communications. They found common tactics including playing up the benefits of their products, diminishing the harms, and claiming to be socially responsible businesses.

They call for urgent action to protect public health.

Dr. May van Schalkwyk, the lead author of the study and researcher at LSHTM, said, “Until the gambling industry is recognized as a corporate vector of harm and effective measures are taken to restrict both its influence and its marketing, prevention of gambling harm will remain unachievable.”

Professor Anna Gilmore, Principal Investigator Local Health Global profits (LHGP), said, “For decades, tobacco companies denied the health risks of smoking, cast doubt on scientific research and on the clear evidence of harm, and lobbied against regulations that threatened their profits. The gambling industry follows the same playbook.”

The study highlights that ineffective regulation of gambling in the UK has led to serious harm, including financial distress, family breakdown, and even suicide. The failure to learn from Big Tobacco’s deceptive strategies has allowed the gambling industry to flourish into a multibillion-pound industry despite the harm it causes. Without stronger policies, the authors argue, the industry will continue to mislead the public and block regulation and oversight.

In particular the authors draw parallels between the tobacco industry’s notorious 1954 “Frank statement” in which tobacco firm bosses claimed in a full-page newspaper ad that there was no link between smoking and disease, and the betting industry’s 2014 public statement responding to public concerns about gambling harms.

Dr. Benjamin Hawkins from the University of Cambridge, another co-author of the study, said, “The gambling industry’s political strategies are alarmingly similar to those used by Big Tobacco. Learning from past mistakes is crucial to preventing further harm.”

The study calls for urgent action, including:

• Stronger regulation to limit gambling industry influence over policy and research.
• Stricter controls on gambling advertising, similar to tobacco restrictions.
• Recognition of the gambling industry as a harmful industry in urgent need of effective regulation.