Gambling Commission says illegal betting stake data still missing
New survey data shows around 1% of British gamblers use unlicensed platforms, but the regulator says it still needs to establish how much money is involved.
The Gambling Commission says it is close to building a fuller picture of illegal gambling in Britain, but admits the critical unknown remains how much money consumers are staking with unlicensed operators rather than how many people use them.
The regulator has spent the past year researching black market activity as part of a wider effort to clamp down on unlicensed gambling, backed by an extra £26m allocated in the government's 2025 budget.
Figures from the latest Gambling Survey for Great Britain show that just 0.6% of respondents said they had used illegal gambling platforms in the four weeks before being surveyed, with a further 0.4% having used one at some point in the previous 12 months but not more recently.
Another 4.6% showed what the Commission describes as limited indications of engagement, meaning some signs of contact with illegal platforms over the year but little evidence of recent use. Taken together, the regulator says 94.4% of UK gamblers show no sign of using illegal sites, and it is confident around 1% of British gamblers were using illegal platforms as of April 2026.
Acting Chief Executive Officer Sue Gardner set out the findings to industry leaders at the Commission's annual CEO briefing, reported by SBC News, calling the survey data a significant step towards understanding the scale of the illegal market and "the best data we've had on the use of the illegal market".
Gardner said the figures provide a baseline from which the Commission can track trends over time and target future interventions, and that combining the survey with other evidence, including banking data published the previous week, is starting to build a clearer picture of the illegal sector.
The regulator has also begun profiling who uses illegal platforms, finding that men are considerably more likely than women to gamble illegally, particularly those aged 18 to 24.
The more pressing concern to emerge from the research is the apparent concentration of problem gamblers among illegal market users. Analysis of transaction data gathered through open banking, published the previous week, found that 45% of gamblers with a Problem Gambling Severity Index score of eight or more had transacted with illegal sites.
A separate case decided by the Financial Ombudsman Service illustrated the scale of potential harm, involving a self-described problem gambler who lost nearly £25,000 to an illegal gambling platform in under three months.
Sue Young, the Commission's Executive Director for Operations, said tackling illegal gambling remained a priority because of the risks it poses to consumers. "We want to kick crime out of gambling," she said.
Young added that while overall engagement with the illegal market appears low and stable, the available research points to a smaller group of users who face a higher risk of harm, and said the new data would help ensure consumer protection work is grounded in evidence as the Commission continues working with government, industry, technology firms and financial services to disrupt illegal activity.