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Bolstered with new blood and growing momentum, a group of UK parliamentarians has told Vixio it is committed to yet more gambling reforms, including "urgent" measures to limit gambling advertising.
The influential All Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Reform (APPG), formerly known as the APPG for Safer Gambling, is pushing for yet more changes to gambling regulations, even as the current government works to complete the reforms already outlined in a 2023 white paper.
In particular, the group has marketing in its sights and is set to call on the government to “impose significant restrictions on gambling advertising across all media platforms to protect children”.
Over nearly a decade of campaigning, the APPG has been a powerful champion of tougher gambling regulations, dating back to its role in the successful campaign to reduce stakes on betting shop gaming machines, known as fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs).
In a concerning development for a gambling industry that has historically struggled to push back against its lobbying power, the APPG has emerged reinvigorated in 2025.
The group is still under the leadership of veteran campaigners Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party, and Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who has helmed the group since its inception.
But its membership has been bolstered by the arrival of 12 new members drawn from the cohort of new MPs appointed following the 2024 general election.
The group is preparing to launch its campaign for widespread reforms to UK gambling laws and gave Vixio a preview of its priorities for this parliament.
These include major changes to gambling advertising rules, including a ban on free bet promotions and an end to all forms of sponsorship in sport.
From next season, Premier League football teams will voluntarily give up shirt-front gambling sponsorships, but the APPG wants a legal ban on all gambling marketing in all sports, including the pitch-side digital ads and shirt-sleeve logos that will still be allowed in football under a deal agreed with the previous government.
The gambling advertising landscape has changed dramatically since the group was founded in 2016 and changing media consumption habits have been matched by a proliferation of ads on social media.
The MPs say they are particularly concerned about content marketing, which sees gambling promotions enmeshed with original video or other content.
Public distaste for gambling content marketing has been stoked in 2025 as some companies active in the UK use shock tactics to push the boundaries.
Most controversially, an ad for Stake.com made national headlines in February for its use of a pornographic actress. The furor eventually led the operator to quit the UK market entirely.
Still, marketing for Stake is still readily accessible online, in particular via influencers, which is another area of focus for the APPG.
On popular streaming site Kick, for example, streams playing slots and offering bonuses from Stake are accessible from the UK with ease.
“The APPG is deeply concerned by the growing scale and influence of gambling advertising in the UK and the clear evidence linking such advertising to increased gambling-related harm,” a spokesperson for the group told Vixio.
Not Finished Yet
A renewed drive against gambling advertising is just one of a number of attack lines the APPG is preparing.
In addition to new areas of reform, the group says it will look to drive home some of the elements of the white paper that have yet to be implemented. Both the introduction of a 0.1 percent statutory levy on gambling revenue and the creation of a gambling ombudsman are high on the group’s agenda.
The MPs are also backing plans to introduce affordability measures, or financial risk checks.
A pilot into what the Gambling Commission calls “financial risk assessments” has been underway since last summer. In an update released in February, the commission said it was making progress on its ongoing tests, but did not offer a timeline of when it expected to release regulations mandating their implementation.
However, in a potential deviation from the commission’s strategy, the APPG is advocating for a particular focus on slot content when conducting financial checks. The regulator has so far not indicated it will take a different approach to its assessment rules based on what products a gambler uses.
The APPG has also indicated it does not see the 2023 white paper as closing the book on changes to gambling legislation in the UK.
As predicted by veteran gambling reformer James Noyes several weeks ago, the APPG has indicated a desire to lobby the government to consider further amending the 2005 Gambling Act or scrap it entirely, in favour of a new law.
The APPG spokesperson said that the cohort will call for ministers to “review the regulatory and legislative framework to reduce harms, ensuring legislation is in place that is fit for the digital age”, but offered no further specifics on its plans.
The APPG is expected to issue further details on its objectives in the coming weeks.
