A new report from 5W, a New York-based Communications & PR agency, claims that US gambling operators are overinvesting in paid advertising while underinvesting in earned media, RG communication and brand credibility.
The Gaming & Gambling Earned Media Playbook 2026 draws on 5W’s Gaming Trust Index 2026, which analysed $3.9bn in tracked US gambling marketing spend across sports betting, online gaming and land-based casino markets.
View the 5W Gaming Trust Index 2026 HERE
According to the report, 36% of tracked spend ($1.42bn) was allocated to TV, while 13% ($520m) went to celebrity and athlete partnerships. By contrast, 2.3% ($90m) was spent on earned media and PR, while 1.5% ($60m) was allocated to RG programmes. The agency says that the two lowest investment categories produced the strongest documented return on brand credibility.
The report comes as operators prepare for a further wave of US market expansion. Online gaming generated $12.8bn in GGR in 2025 across seven legal states, with New York, Illinois, Indiana and Virginia among those considering online gaming legislation. Sports betting expansion is also expected to continue across additional states.
The playbook argues that operators with an established earned media presence before a state market opens are better positioned to acquire customers than brands relying heavily on advertising at launch. It cites Michigan’s 2021 online gaming launch as a Case Study, saying that operators with stronger pre-launch media presence achieved faster initial acquisition.
Ronn Torossian, Founder & Chairman of 5W, says: “The operators that win the next 24 months of state legalisation will not be the ones with the biggest television budget at launch.
“They will be the ones who built earned media presence, regulatory standing and RG credibility in the 18 months before the market opened.”
The report recommends a 90-day plan covering earned media mapping, marketing mix rebalancing, Regulation FD workflow design, RG content, partnership restructuring, AI visibility audits and brand credibility measurement.
For operators, the message is commercially pointed. As US expansion becomes more competitive and regulatory scrutiny intensifies, brand trust, public positioning and communications discipline are becoming as important as advertising scale.
