Ranking the best brands in the online gambling sector

Ladbrokes has the most powerful brand in the UK gambling industry according to a new study from marketing firm Attest.

The research company surveyed 1,000 UK adults, asking them to name as many gambling brands as possible and then how likely they were to use the company and recommend it to a friend.

The three metrics combine to form a ‘brand equity’ score, which was led far and away by Ladbrokes, with Sky Bet, Coral, bet365 and Gala rounding out the top five.

Betfred actually led all brands in unprompted recall, but scored poorly on brand strength, dropping out down the overall rankings. Three other brands broke the 10% unprompted recall mark in the form of Ladbrokes, bet365 and William Hill.

Attest noted the sector as a whole rated very poorly on Net Promoter Score – how likely people were to recommend the brand to a friend.

“We see the industry’s average NPS is negative (the first time we’ve seen this across an industry), and the average amongst the Top 15 is not much stronger,” the report said.

“In fact amongst the Top 16 brands by unprompted recall, just one – Ladbrokes – has a positive NPS score (an impressive 37.5%).

“The industry’s NPS score is quite different amongst males (rising to -15%), then dropping dramatically to -40 amongst females.”

The research firm also noted a much weaker-than-usual correlation between knowing a brand and the likelihood of consumers considering purchasing it.

Just 24% of consumers were ‘very likely’ to purchase from a brand they could name, with a further 22% ‘likely’ to do so. The research chimes with recent Gambling Commission data which showed trust in the industry at an all-time low.

Attest argued: “Given how much money is spent on above the line advertising and promotion by gambling companies, there may be a good argument to consider stronger corporate messaging around how they’re protecting against addiction (a frequent comment driving negative consumer NPS).”