Time2play highlights the risks of social media tipsters
A study by Time2play has found that nine in 10 online sport tipsters fail to meet the legal requirements to promote responsible gambling on social media. Less than 10 per cent of social media tipsters claim to base their advice on research-backed insights, which puts eight million social media users around rich of being misled.
Time2play’s research shows that three in 10 sports bettors rely on social media as their primary source of information. However, misinformation spreads up to six times faster on these platforms, allowing fake reports, exaggerated claims, influencers, and anonymous experts to mislead bettors seeking tips and advice. One in five tipsters on X suggest that their recommended bets will lead to bettors making guaranteed money. Only one in 12 tipsters on social media state they use research to back their tips online. And 99 per cent of TikTok betting tipsters fail to promote responsible gambling online.
The study by Time2play highlights the risks of social media tipsters. By analysing posts on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, the data reveals that most online tipsters are untrustworthy, often neglecting responsible gambling messages while making false promises to millions.
An analysis of keywords found in social media tipsters’ bios found that only one in 12 (eight per cent) reference research or statistics to support their advice, while the remaining 92 per cent make no mention of research in their tips. Further analysis also shows that only one in 10 online tipsters (10.32 per cent) claim to be an expert or professional, yet still continue to offer unqualified advice to thousands of users, with 95 per cent of tweets from these accounts offering some form of betting advice.
Shockingly, 75 per cent of these tips also came from unverified users with no recognised experience within the profession. The research also found that nine in 10 online tipsters on X fail to meet the legal requirements when promoting responsible gambling. When reviewing social media bios of tipster accounts on X, only one in 6 (16 per cent) included age disclaimers in their bios, and just one in eight (11.5 per cent) provided links to gambling awareness resources.
On TikTok, 99 per cent of sports betting tipsters fail to promote responsible gambling, with only 1.2 per cent encouraging their followers to gamble responsibly and just one in 12 (7.6 per cent) accounts offer support to problem gamblers.
Finally, the research reveals that eight million sports bettors on X are at risk of being misled by tipsters promising “easy money”. On X, 20.3 per cent (one in five) of tipster accounts claim their advice guarantees profits for bettors, while on TikTok, 11.6 per cent (over one in 10) make similar promises.
The analysis further highlights a lack of ownership from online tipsters on social media, as less than one per cent (0.76 per cent) of accounts on X openly admitted that success isn’t guaranteed.
