The casino won: how gambling became part of pop culture

If someone had said 7–10 years ago that the world's biggest creators would openly advertise casinos, and that the audience would treat it as ordinary entertainment, it would have been hard to believe. Back then the attitude toward casinos was completely different: most creators stayed away from the niche, and for the audience gambling was associated with fraud, addiction and a dubious reputation.

But today the market looks different. And if you look at it objectively, you can say: the casino won.

The turning point: Stake sells not a casino but a lifestyle

The turning point was around five years ago, when Stake began investing aggressively in marketing and creating world-scale collaborations. One of the loudest events was the partnership with Drake. For many, it was the first time a casino was associated not with underground venues but with a major international brand.

A completely different image appeared: expensive cars, private jets, luxury villas, global celebrities, big wins, a premium lifestyle.

Stake did what few brands manage: they sold not a casino but a lifestyle.

It was after this that the audience's attitude gradually began to change. Gambling stopped being seen solely as a dangerous activity — for many it began to look like one form of digital leisure.

How the balance of power shifted

Following Stake, other companies began to change the market. Content creators saw the huge budgets, the audience stopped reacting negatively to integrations, and casinos became one of the most active categories of advertisers.

Interestingly, it used to be the opposite. Casinos competed for creators' attention, the cost of integrations reached millions, and popular influencers chose who to work with themselves. Today the balance has shifted: demand from casinos remains huge, but the supply from creators has grown even larger. In many cases it's the casinos and bookmakers who decide how much to pay for a placement.

Streamers and the new wave of optimization

A few years ago streamers became one of the main tools for promoting gambling — especially after Kick appeared. For smaller streamers, casino contracts became their main income: a streamer with around 300 concurrent viewers would often get about $1,000 per hour of broadcast.

But today the industry is going through the next stage. Casino companies have become more cautious about spending, and marketers have started counting returns. It became clear which streamers actually bring in players and which just gather views. Budgets started to be reallocated, and many projects cut their number of streamers.

Today casinos care not about views in themselves but about deposits, registrations, player retention and audience LTV. The gambling-marketing market is going through the same path as other verticals: crazy growth → huge budgets → mass recruiting of partners → optimization and a fight for efficiency.

The main takeaway

The casino managed to do what far from every business can — completely change the perception of its category. From an industry many considered toxic, gambling has turned into part of modern internet culture. Whether you like it or not, from a marketing standpoint this is one of the most successful transformations of a brand and an entire industry over the past ten years.