Three institutional ESG research desks have begun including responsible gambling investment as a percentage of total marketing spend in published research notes covering publicly traded U.S. gambling operators, according to a 24-month industry audit released this month by the 5W Research Division.
The ratio is appearing in Sustainalytics gambling sector reports, MSCI ESG Ratings methodology updates for the consumer services sector, and ISS ESG corporate rating reviews for publicly traded gambling operators, according to the audit. The reports cover Flutter Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, and Caesars Entertainment, among other publicly traded operators.
The figure that has triggered the analyst attention: across the U.S. sports betting, online casino, and land-based gambling industries, operators spent an estimated $520 million on celebrity and athlete endorsement partnerships in 2025 against an estimated $60 million on responsible gambling programs and communications — a ratio of 8.7 to 1, the highest of any regulated American consumer category with a public-health dimension.
The audit, titled the 5W Responsible Gambling Communications Audit 2026, reviewed 30 operators across three segments, drawing on 47,000-plus earned media articles, 180-plus ESG disclosures and 10-K filings, 240-plus state regulator filings and testimony transcripts, and 2,400-plus AI engine queries across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. The study window ran from May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2026.
Of the 12 publicly traded U.S. gambling operators reviewed, only four disclose responsible gambling investment as a percentage of marketing spend in annual reports or ESG disclosures, according to the audit. The remaining eight disclose dollar figures only, or do not break out the line item. The audit notes that the gap limits ESG analyst visibility into how operators are weighting responsible gambling against advertising channels.
ESG-mandated institutional investors holding shares in U.S. gambling operators include CalPERS, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, Norges Bank Investment Management — Norway's sovereign wealth fund — and the California State Teachers' Retirement System. Each has published ESG screening criteria that intersect with responsible gambling disclosures, the audit found.
For context, the audit compared the gambling industry's ratio to other regulated consumer categories. The U.S. tobacco industry's ratio of advertising to public-health communications fell below 1.5-to-1 within five years of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. The U.S. alcohol industry currently runs approximately 4-to-1. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry runs near 1-to-1 under FDA-mandated risk communication.
Top performers in the audit's RG Communications Index — a 100-point scale measuring investment transparency, earned media footprint, executive visibility, regulator engagement, and AI citation share — were MGM Resorts International (81/100), BetMGM Sportsbook (78/100), BetMGM Casino (74/100), DraftKings (71/100), and FanDuel (66/100). Bottom performers were Las Vegas Sands (41/100), ESPN Bet (38/100), Fanatics Sportsbook (34/100), bet365 (29/100), and Stake.us (22/100).
The audit also identified a regulator-communications asymmetry that may affect future state licensing decisions. State gaming commissioners in 11 of 38 legal U.S. markets reported, in public testimony or commission meetings, that they receive proactive responsible gambling communications from fewer than three operators per year. The audit found that in Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina — the three most recent major sports-betting launches — operators that published responsible gambling content in state media outlets in the 18 months before legalization achieved measurably faster regulatory approval timelines than operators that did not.
The six largest unlicensed U.S. states — California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, and Missouri — are positioned to apply the same pattern as legalization debates advance in each market.
Ronn Torossian, who founded 5W in 2003 and serves as its chairman, said in a statement accompanying the audit that "the gambling industry has built the most visible advertising ecosystem in American consumer marketing in five years" but had not built corresponding credibility infrastructure. The audit's authors note that the report measures communications and disclosure practices, not the operational quality of operator responsible gambling programs.
The full audit is available at 5wpr.com/research/responsible-gambling-audit-2026/. The 5W Research Division has indicated it will publish quarterly updates to the RG Communications Index throughout 2026 and 2027.
Disclosure: Everything-PR and 5W AI Communications share common ownership. Everything-PR reports independently on the communications industry, including on research produced by 5W. Editorial decisions are made by Everything-PR's editorial team.
