Commission confident of fuller UK illegal gambling picture but key detail needed
The Gambling Commission has released comprehensive new data indicating that direct consumer engagement with illegal, offshore gambling platforms in Great Britain remains low and stable. Speaking at the regulator's annual CEO briefing, Acting Chief Executive Officer Sue Gardner outlined that approximately 94.4% of UK gamblers show no indication of utilizing unlicensed sites, while overall active participation sits at roughly 1%.
The findings form part of a broader regulatory initiative backed by an additional £26m allocated in the government’s 2025 budget to aggressively target unlawful operations and protect vulnerable consumers.
Data derived from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) reveals that just 0.6% of respondents engaged with illegal gambling platforms in the four weeks prior to the survey, with another 0.4% engaging over the preceding twelve months. An additional 4.6% demonstrated limited indicators of engagement over the year. However, while the prevalence of user numbers appears constrained, the Commission emphasized that the core challenge moving forward lies in determining total financial staking volumes and addressing heavy concentrations of consumer vulnerability.
Executive Director for Operations Sue Young highlighted that demographic profiling indicates illegal platform users are predominantly young men aged 18 to 24. Most critically, recent open-banking transaction analyses revealed that 45% of individuals exhibiting a Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) score of eight or higher had transacted with unregulated sites. High-profile cases such as a recent Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) ruling involving a self-described problem gambler losing nearly £25,000 to an illegal operator in under three months have further underscored the severe risks tied to the black market.
By combining GSGB baseline metrics, open-banking transaction tracking, and cross-sector collaboration across government, financial institutions, and technology providers, the Commission aims to construct a complete operational picture of the illegal market to refine enforcement and consumer protection interventions.
