5WPR today released the Gaming Trust Index, the first annual study to systematically document marketing spend allocation and brand credibility outcomes across the U.S. sports betting, online gaming, and land-based casino markets.
The index covers the top operators across all three segments and is built entirely on publicly available data: advertising spend from Kantar Media, MediaRadar, and iSpot.tv; public financial disclosures from Flutter Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment, Penn Entertainment, and DraftKings; and earned media analysis of more than 47,000 articles published over a 12-month period.
What the Index Measures
The Gaming Trust Index analyzes the U.S. gambling industry’s $3.9 billion annual marketing budget by channel, cross-references those allocations against earned media performance and brand credibility outcomes, and identifies the gaps between where the industry is spending and where the highest returns on brand credibility actually live.
The index covers three distinct segments:
- Sports betting: $15.2 billion in GGR, 38 states legal, an estimated $2.8 billion in annual marketing spend.
- Online gaming (iCasino and iPoker): $12.8 billion in GGR, seven states legal, the fastest-growing segment and the most underserved from a communications investment standpoint.
- Land-based casino: $67.8 billion in GGR, the largest segment in the U.S. gambling market and the one with the largest unaddressed digital content gap.
The Central Finding
Television advertising received $1.42 billion — 36% of total industry marketing spend. Celebrity and athlete partnerships received $520 million. Earned media and PR received $90 million, or 2.3% of the total. Responsible gambling programs received $60 million, or 1.5%.
The two categories with the lowest investment — earned media and responsible gambling communications — generate the highest documented return on brand credibility of any channel in the analysis. The industry’s current allocation is the inverse of what the data supports.
“The gambling industry has built enormous awareness. What it has not built, in proportion to that spend, is credibility. The operators who address that imbalance in the next 18 months will be better positioned at every stage of the market’s maturation — regulatory, competitive, and commercial.”
— Matt Caiola, CEO, 5WPR
The Land-Based Casino GEO Gap
One of the index’s most distinctive findings concerns land-based casino operators. Major brands — MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, Hard Rock International, Penn Entertainment, and Boyd Gaming — generate millions of monthly branded searches but have invested minimally in the owned and earned content that shapes what appears in those searches.
As AI-powered search tools synthesize brand information from whatever content ranks, operators who have not built digital content ecosystems are ceding their brand narratives to third-party review sites, financial news, and regulatory coverage. The index calls this the GEO gap — and documents it as one of the most addressable vulnerabilities in American consumer brand strategy.
Online Gaming: The Pre-Legalization Opportunity
The index identifies a specific first-mover dynamic for online gaming operators in expansion-pipeline states. Analysis of the 2021 Michigan online gaming launch shows that operators with pre-existing earned media presence in the state achieved faster initial user acquisition than those who relied solely on advertising at launch. With New York, Illinois, Indiana, and Virginia in active legislative consideration, operators building communications infrastructure now will have a documented advantage when those markets open.
Access
The full Gaming Trust Index 2026 is available free at 5wpr.com/research/gaming-trust-index-2026. The complete spend analysis, earned media methodology, responsible gambling communications audit, and sector-by-sector breakdowns are included. No registration required.
5WPR’s gaming and gambling practice serves sports betting operators, online gaming platforms, and land-based casino brands across PR, crisis communications, executive visibility, and digital content strategy.
