‘I’ll come across something within a minute, guaranteed’: how young people who gamble experience gambling advertising under strict advertising regulations in Belgium

Given the influence of gambling advertising on individuals’ perceptions and behaviors, policymakers in various jurisdictions have introduced restrictions to mitigate harm. In Belgium, most forms of gambling advertising have been banned since 2023, although exemptions, transitional measures for sports sponsoring, and potential loopholes remain. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 young adults, this study explored how people who gamble experience and perceive the gambling advertising landscape under the new regulatory framework in Belgium. While participants reported seeing less gambling advertising overall, remaining communication was perceived as more targeted across multiple dimensions, including advertising formats, personalization of advertising content based on gambling preferences, and temporal patterns tied to special events. Next to passive exposure, participants actively engaged with gambling operators’ owned media for financial, informational, and entertainment purposes, with financial inducements being perceived as highly persuasive. Sports sponsorship was generally viewed positively, justified on economic grounds. Participants broadly rejected the differential regulatory treatment of the public gambling operator, despite perceiving its communication as less aggressive. Although gambling advertisements from illegal gambling operators were frequently encountered, participants considered them as unpersuasive due to limited brand familiarity. This study offers practical implications for other jurisdictions aiming to restrict gambling advertising.