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Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape

Scott Houghton Orcid Logo, Frederic Boy Orcid Logo, Alexander Bradley Orcid Logo, Richard J. E. James Orcid Logo, Heather Wardle Orcid Logo, Simon Dymond Orcid Logo

Information, Communication & Society, Pages: 1 - 17

Swansea University Authors: Frederic Boy Orcid Logo, Simon Dymond Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/1369118x.2025.2572025

Abstract

Gambling marketing on social media in countries like Great Britain (GB) is relatively well understood. Little is known, however, about how such marketing is impacted by major changes to the gambling landscape, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we assessed changes in the frequency, sentiment, and con...

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Published in: Information, Communication & Society
ISSN: 1369-118X 1468-4462
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70656
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spelling 2025-11-14T13:56:28.7211034 v2 70656 2025-10-14 Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape 43e704698d5dbbac3734b7cd0fef60aa 0000-0003-1373-6634 Frederic Boy Frederic Boy true false 8ed0024546f2588fdb0073a7d6fbc075 0000-0003-1319-4492 Simon Dymond Simon Dymond true false 2025-10-14 CBAE Gambling marketing on social media in countries like Great Britain (GB) is relatively well understood. Little is known, however, about how such marketing is impacted by major changes to the gambling landscape, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we assessed changes in the frequency, sentiment, and content of gambling marketing on Twitter by Great Britain (GB) gambling operators and affiliates. We analysed n = 353,134 tweets from 10 operators and affiliates posted between January 2020 and July 2022. Using machine learning, we categorised tweets based on content and tracked how social media use by operators and affiliates changed during the pandemic. Findings revealed decreases in the frequency of tweets posted during the first national lockdown, particularly for affiliates, and a greater proportion of sports content related tweets, compared to direct advertising, as the pandemic continued. Postings by affiliates tended to include more positive sentiments. Our findings highlight the speed at which gambling operators and affiliates adapted their social media marketing campaigns to large structural changes like the COVID-19 lockdowns. Journal Article Information, Communication &amp; Society 0 1 17 Informa UK Limited 1369-118X 1468-4462 Gambling marketing; social media; operators; affiliates; machine learning; sentiment analysis 13 10 2025 2025-10-13 10.1080/1369118x.2025.2572025 COLLEGE NANME Management School COLLEGE CODE CBAE Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This work was supported by British Academy: [Grant Number SG2122\211340]. 2025-11-14T13:56:28.7211034 2025-10-14T11:10:55.9247055 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Psychology Scott Houghton 0000-0003-0165-122x 1 Frederic Boy 0000-0003-1373-6634 2 Alexander Bradley 0000-0003-4304-7653 3 Richard J. E. James 0000-0002-6644-7011 4 Heather Wardle 0000-0003-1361-3706 5 Simon Dymond 0000-0003-1319-4492 6 70656__35635__30a9bd44e515412194a04ebba62893c4.pdf 70656.VoR.pdf 2025-11-14T13:53:52.7151912 Output 1108017 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape
spellingShingle Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape
Frederic Boy
Simon Dymond
title_short Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape
title_full Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape
title_fullStr Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape
title_full_unstemmed Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape
title_sort Adapting in times of crisis: how social media marketing of gambling changed in response to major shifts in the gambling landscape
author_id_str_mv 43e704698d5dbbac3734b7cd0fef60aa
8ed0024546f2588fdb0073a7d6fbc075
author_id_fullname_str_mv 43e704698d5dbbac3734b7cd0fef60aa_***_Frederic Boy
8ed0024546f2588fdb0073a7d6fbc075_***_Simon Dymond
author Frederic Boy
Simon Dymond
author2 Scott Houghton
Frederic Boy
Alexander Bradley
Richard J. E. James
Heather Wardle
Simon Dymond
format Journal article
container_title Information, Communication &amp; Society
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publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1369-118X
1468-4462
doi_str_mv 10.1080/1369118x.2025.2572025
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Psychology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Psychology
document_store_str 1
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description Gambling marketing on social media in countries like Great Britain (GB) is relatively well understood. Little is known, however, about how such marketing is impacted by major changes to the gambling landscape, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we assessed changes in the frequency, sentiment, and content of gambling marketing on Twitter by Great Britain (GB) gambling operators and affiliates. We analysed n = 353,134 tweets from 10 operators and affiliates posted between January 2020 and July 2022. Using machine learning, we categorised tweets based on content and tracked how social media use by operators and affiliates changed during the pandemic. Findings revealed decreases in the frequency of tweets posted during the first national lockdown, particularly for affiliates, and a greater proportion of sports content related tweets, compared to direct advertising, as the pandemic continued. Postings by affiliates tended to include more positive sentiments. Our findings highlight the speed at which gambling operators and affiliates adapted their social media marketing campaigns to large structural changes like the COVID-19 lockdowns.
published_date 2025-10-13T06:50:07Z
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