UK LEGAL
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform
Northridge Law’s Melanie Ellis asks, “Do the APPG’s latest recommendations undermine the licensed market?”
T
he All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform (“APPG”) and Peers for Gambling Reform are informal cross-party groups of politicians, the APPG having a stated purpose of assessing “how the gambling industry should be reformed to prevent harm”. Their latest report, “Gambling Advertising, Marketing and Sponsorship: Recommendations for Reform”, sets out a case for increased restrictions on gambling advertising across all channels. The report starts from the premise that gambling advertising is a cause of harm, on the basis that advertising can cause people
20 MAY 2026
to gamble and gambling can cause harm. Whilst the two individual steps in the APPG’s case are difficult to argue against, the conclusion is problematic. It does not necessarily follow that gambling advertising is a direct cause of gambling- related harm. We obviously can’t say, for example, that hunger causes us to eat, eating causes obesity, therefore hunger causes obesity. More importantly, the APPG fails to properly address the unintended consequences of restricting gambling advertising and whether they might cause greater harm than the
advertising itself.
As with other potentially harmful products, such as alcohol and high sugar snacks, some restrictions are justified to protect young and vulnerable consumers. But if those restrictions become excessive, this creates a perfect storm for black market supply of the product. Consumers will seek unregulated sources of the product and unregulated suppliers will appear to fill that need, prohibition in 1920s America being a perfect example. Gambling is particularly vulnerable to this effect, given the ease with which
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