BGC unveils five-point plan to com­bat UK ille­gal gam­bling

The Bet­ting and Gam­ing Coun­cil (BGC) has intro­duced a com­pre­hen­sive five-point plan designed to address the grow­ing pres­ence of ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors in the United King­dom. The indus­try body is urg­ing closer col­lab­o­ra­tion between gov­ern­ment agen­cies, reg­u­la­tors, tech­nol­ogy com­pa­nies and finan­cial insti­tu­tions to tackle what it describes as an increas­ingly sig­nif­i­cant threat to con­sumer pro­tec­tion and mar­ket integrity.

Rep­re­sent­ing approx­i­mately 90% of the reg­u­lated bet­ting and gam­ing indus­try in the UK, the BGC has expressed con­cern that unli­censed gam­bling oper­a­tors are attract­ing a grow­ing share of con­sumer spend­ing. Accord­ing to fore­casts ref­er­enced by the organ­i­sa­tion, activ­ity within the ille­gal gam­bling mar­ket could increase sub­stan­tially over the com­ing years if fur­ther action is not taken.

The pro­posed mea­sures focus on adver­tis­ing enforce­ment, web­site block­ing pow­ers, pay­ment restric­tions, account­abil­ity for ser­vice providers and stronger crim­i­nal sanc­tions. Together, the rec­om­men­da­tions aim to dis­rupt ille­gal oper­a­tors while rein­forc­ing the pro­tec­tions avail­able within the reg­u­lated gam­bling sec­tor.

Con­cerns over the growth of the ille­gal mar­ket

The BGC’s lat­est pro­pos­als come amid grow­ing con­cerns that unli­censed gam­bling oper­a­tors are becom­ing increas­ingly sophis­ti­cated in their efforts to attract British con­sumers.

Fore­casts cited by the organ­i­sa­tion sug­gest that stakes placed with ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors could rise from £17 bil­lion in 2025 to more than £33 bil­lion by 2028. If those pro­jec­tions mate­ri­alise, nearly one in every five pounds wagered online could be directed toward unli­censed oper­a­tors within three years.

Indus­try stake­hold­ers have warned that such growth could have sig­nif­i­cant impli­ca­tions for con­sumer safety. Unlike licensed oper­a­tors, ille­gal gam­bling busi­nesses do not oper­ate under the UK reg­u­la­tory frame­work and are not required to com­ply with the exten­sive safe­guards imposed by the reg­u­lated mar­ket.

The BGC argues that this trend presents chal­lenges not only for the gam­bling indus­try but also for pol­i­cy­mak­ers, law enforce­ment author­i­ties and con­sumer pro­tec­tion organ­i­sa­tions.

Stronger action against ille­gal adver­tis­ing

The first ele­ment of the BGC’s plan focuses on reduc­ing the vis­i­bil­ity of ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors online.

Accord­ing to the organ­i­sa­tion, unli­censed oper­a­tors increas­ingly use social media plat­forms, affil­i­ate mar­ket­ing net­works and dig­i­tal adver­tis­ing chan­nels to reach UK con­sumers. The BGC has called on tech­nol­ogy com­pa­nies and social media plat­forms to take faster and more deci­sive action to remove con­tent that pro­motes ille­gal gam­bling ser­vices.

The trade body noted that ille­gal oper­a­tors often exploit gaps in con­tent mod­er­a­tion sys­tems to adver­tise their ser­vices. In some cases, they use mar­ket­ing tech­niques that reg­u­lated oper­a­tors are pro­hib­ited from employ­ing under UK adver­tis­ing rules.

The organ­i­sa­tion believes that reduc­ing expo­sure to such adver­tis­ing would make it more dif­fi­cult for ille­gal oper­a­tors to attract new cus­tomers and expand their mar­ket share.

Enhanced pow­ers for the Gam­bling Com­mis­sion

A sec­ond rec­om­men­da­tion cen­tres on pro­vid­ing addi­tional enforce­ment tools to the UK Gam­bling Com­mis­sion.

The BGC is advo­cat­ing for stronger pow­ers that would allow reg­u­la­tors to block ille­gal gam­bling web­sites more effi­ciently and remove unli­censed gam­bling appli­ca­tions from dig­i­tal mar­ket­places.

Accord­ing to the organ­i­sa­tion, ille­gal oper­a­tors have become increas­ingly adept at cre­at­ing web­sites and mobile appli­ca­tions that closely resem­ble legit­i­mate gam­bling brands. This can cre­ate con­fu­sion among con­sumers and make enforce­ment efforts more com­plex.

By strength­en­ing reg­u­la­tory pow­ers, the BGC believes author­i­ties would be bet­ter posi­tioned to respond quickly to emerg­ing threats and pre­vent ille­gal oper­a­tors from main­tain­ing a pres­ence in the UK mar­ket.

Tar­get­ing pay­ment chan­nels

Another key pil­lar of the pro­posal involves restrict­ing access to pay­ment sys­tems used by ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors.

The BGC argues that pay­ment providers have an impor­tant role to play in dis­rupt­ing unlaw­ful gam­bling activ­i­ties. By iden­ti­fy­ing and block­ing trans­ac­tions con­nected to ille­gal oper­a­tors, finan­cial insti­tu­tions could sig­nif­i­cantly reduce the abil­ity of such busi­nesses to gen­er­ate rev­enue from UK con­sumers.

The organ­i­sa­tion main­tains that cut­ting off pay­ment routes would cre­ate sub­stan­tial oper­a­tional chal­lenges for ille­gal oper­a­tors and reduce their abil­ity to serve cus­tomers.

Finan­cial insti­tu­tions have increas­ingly become part of broader efforts to com­bat online fraud and finan­cial crime. The BGC believes a coor­di­nated approach involv­ing pay­ment providers could con­tribute mean­ing­fully to efforts aimed at reduc­ing ille­gal gam­bling activ­ity.

Hold­ing facil­i­ta­tors account­able

The fourth ele­ment of the plan calls for penal­ties against organ­i­sa­tions that know­ingly pro­vide ser­vices to ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors.

Accord­ing to the BGC, some ille­gal oper­a­tors rely on a net­work of third-party providers to sup­port their activ­i­ties. These ser­vices may include adver­tis­ing, web host­ing, mar­ket­ing sup­port and pay­ment pro­cess­ing.

The trade body argues that stronger con­se­quences for busi­nesses that facil­i­tate ille­gal gam­bling could dis­cour­age coop­er­a­tion with unli­censed oper­a­tors and reduce their abil­ity to oper­ate effec­tively.

The organ­i­sa­tion also high­lighted dif­fer­ences between the oblig­a­tions imposed on licensed oper­a­tors and the meth­ods fre­quently used by ille­gal gam­bling busi­nesses. While reg­u­lated oper­a­tors must com­ply with strict adver­tis­ing stan­dards and reg­u­la­tory require­ments, ille­gal oper­a­tors often use alter­na­tive pro­mo­tional chan­nels includ­ing influ­encers, affil­i­ate net­works and emerg­ing tech­nolo­gies.

Tougher crim­i­nal sanc­tions pro­posed

The final rec­om­men­da­tion focuses on intro­duc­ing stronger crim­i­nal penal­ties for indi­vid­u­als and organ­i­sa­tions involved in ille­gal gam­bling activ­i­ties tar­get­ing UK con­sumers.

The BGC believes tougher sanc­tions would act as a deter­rent and rein­force the seri­ous­ness of oper­at­ing out­side the reg­u­la­tory frame­work.

The pro­posal reflects wider con­cerns that ille­gal gam­bling can be asso­ci­ated with broader crim­i­nal activ­ity, includ­ing fraud, finan­cial mis­con­duct and other forms of unlaw­ful behav­iour. By increas­ing enforce­ment and strength­en­ing penal­ties, the organ­i­sa­tion hopes to cre­ate greater bar­ri­ers for those seek­ing to profit from unli­censed gam­bling oper­a­tions.

Con­sumer pro­tec­tion remains a cen­tral con­cern

A cen­tral theme through­out the BGC’s pro­posal is the impor­tance of con­sumer pro­tec­tion.

The organ­i­sa­tion argues that cus­tomers who engage with reg­u­lated gam­bling oper­a­tors ben­e­fit from a range of safe­guards designed to pro­mote respon­si­ble gam­bling and reduce poten­tial harms.

These mea­sures include age ver­i­fi­ca­tion require­ments, iden­tity checks, safer gam­bling tools, afford­abil­ity pro­tec­tions and for­mal com­plaint res­o­lu­tion processes.

In con­trast, ille­gal oper­a­tors are not sub­ject to the same stan­dards and over­sight. As a result, con­sumers who use unli­censed plat­forms may have lim­ited pro­tec­tions if dis­putes arise or if they encounter finan­cial or secu­rity-related issues.

The BGC has also warned that pol­icy deci­sions should care­fully con­sider poten­tial unin­tended con­se­quences. Accord­ing to the organ­i­sa­tion, mea­sures that inad­ver­tently encour­age con­sumers to seek alter­na­tives out­side the reg­u­lated mar­ket could under­mine broader con­sumer pro­tec­tion objec­tives.

Indus­try calls for greater col­lab­o­ra­tion

The BGC wel­comed the estab­lish­ment of the Gov­ern­men­t’s Black Mar­ket Task­force, describ­ing it as a pos­i­tive devel­op­ment in efforts to address ille­gal gam­bling.

How­ever, the organ­i­sa­tion stressed that fur­ther action is needed to ensure effec­tive coop­er­a­tion among reg­u­la­tors, law enforce­ment agen­cies, tech­nol­ogy com­pa­nies and finan­cial insti­tu­tions.

The trade body believes that a coor­di­nated response is essen­tial because ille­gal oper­a­tors increas­ingly use mul­ti­ple chan­nels to reach con­sumers. These include social media plat­forms, search engines, affil­i­ate mar­ket­ing net­works and encrypted com­mu­ni­ca­tion ser­vices.

By work­ing together, stake­hold­ers may be bet­ter posi­tioned to iden­tify ille­gal activ­ity, dis­rupt oper­a­tions and reduce con­sumer expo­sure to unli­censed gam­bling ser­vices.

Grainne Hurst out­lines the risks

Grainne Hurst, Chief Exec­u­tive of the Bet­ting and Gam­ing Coun­cil, empha­sised the urgency of the issue while out­lin­ing the organ­i­sa­tion’s con­cerns about future mar­ket trends.

She said: “The black mar­ket is grow­ing fast, becom­ing more vis­i­ble and attract­ing bil­lions of pounds in stakes from British con­sumers.

“These fore­casts are a wake-up call for every­one involved in pro­tect­ing con­sumers. If cur­rent trends con­tinue, black mar­ket gam­bling stakes could exceed £33bn within three years, with almost one in every five pounds staked online poten­tially end­ing up with ille­gal oper­a­tors.

“That should con­cern any­one who cares about con­sumer pro­tec­tion and reduc­ing gam­bling-related harm.

“Ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors offer none of the pro­tec­tions required in the reg­u­lated sec­tor. They do not con­duct safer gam­bling inter­ven­tions, they do not carry out iden­tity checks, they do not ver­ify age prop­erly and they pro­vide no route to redress when things go wrong.

“Every cus­tomer who is dri­ven into the black mar­ket loses those pro­tec­tions.

“The evi­dence is already clear. Ille­gal oper­a­tors are tar­get­ing British con­sumers online, adver­tis­ing through social media, pro­cess­ing pay­ments through legit­i­mate finan­cial sys­tems and exploit­ing gaps in enforce­ment.

“If pol­i­cy­mak­ers fail to tackle this grow­ing threat, more gam­bling will take place in envi­ron­ments with no safe­guards, no over­sight and no con­sumer pro­tec­tions.

“This is not sim­ply an issue for the reg­u­lated indus­try. It is a con­sumer pro­tec­tion issue, a pub­lic health issue and a crim­i­nal jus­tice issue.

“Gov­ern­ment, reg­u­la­tors, tech­nol­ogy com­pa­nies and pay­ment providers must work together to stop ille­gal oper­a­tors reach­ing British con­sumers, cut off their fund­ing and hold those who facil­i­tate their activ­i­ties account­able.

“Our five-point plan sets out prac­ti­cal, tar­geted mea­sures that would strike at the heart of the black mar­ket and bet­ter pro­tect con­sumers.”

Pri­mary sources and the enforce­ment test

The Bet­ting and Gam­ing Coun­cil sets out the licensed industry’s posi­tion, while the UK Gam­bling Com­mis­sion is respon­si­ble for reg­u­lat­ing com­mer­cial gam­bling in Great Britain. The five-point plan must ulti­mately be judged on whether it improves enforce­ment against ille­gal gam­bling with­out weak­en­ing pro­por­tion­ate con­sumer safe­guards. The same chan­neli­sa­tion ques­tion appears in Germany’s off­shore gam­bling debate and in Finland’s revised loss-limit con­trols.

Con­clu­sion

The Bet­ting and Gam­ing Coun­cil’s five-point plan rep­re­sents a broad indus­try pro­posal aimed at address­ing the chal­lenges posed by ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors in the United King­dom. By focus­ing on adver­tis­ing enforce­ment, reg­u­la­tory pow­ers, pay­ment restric­tions, account­abil­ity mea­sures and stronger crim­i­nal sanc­tions, the organ­i­sa­tion seeks to reduce the influ­ence of unli­censed oper­a­tors and strengthen con­sumer safe­guards.

As online gam­bling con­tin­ues to evolve, the effec­tive­ness of efforts to com­bat ille­gal activ­ity will likely depend on coop­er­a­tion among reg­u­la­tors, gov­ern­ment author­i­ties, tech­nol­ogy plat­forms, pay­ment providers and indus­try par­tic­i­pants. The BGC’s pro­pos­als con­tribute to the ongo­ing debate about how best to pro­tect con­sumers while main­tain­ing a well-reg­u­lated and trans­par­ent gam­bling envi­ron­ment. Whether these rec­om­men­da­tions are ulti­mately adopted, the dis­cus­sion high­lights the grow­ing impor­tance of coor­di­nated action in address­ing risks asso­ci­ated with the ille­gal gam­bling mar­ket.

FAQs

What is the Bet­ting and Gam­ing Coun­cil?
The Bet­ting and Gam­ing Coun­cil is a trade asso­ci­a­tion that rep­re­sents a large pro­por­tion of the reg­u­lated bet­ting and gam­ing indus­try in the United King­dom.

What is the pur­pose of the BGC’s five-point plan?
The plan aims to reduce ille­gal gam­bling activ­ity and strengthen con­sumer pro­tec­tions through coor­di­nated action by reg­u­la­tors, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, tech­nol­ogy com­pa­nies and finan­cial insti­tu­tions.

Why is ille­gal gam­bling con­sid­ered a con­cern?
Ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors oper­ate out­side the reg­u­la­tory frame­work and may not pro­vide con­sumer pro­tec­tions such as age ver­i­fi­ca­tion, safer gam­bling tools and dis­pute res­o­lu­tion processes.

What growth is fore­cast for the ille­gal gam­bling mar­ket?
Fore­casts cited by the BGC sug­gest that stakes placed with ille­gal oper­a­tors could rise from £17 bil­lion in 2025 to more than £33 bil­lion by 2028.

How does the BGC pro­pose address­ing ille­gal gam­bling adver­tis­ing?
The organ­i­sa­tion wants tech­nol­ogy com­pa­nies and social media plat­forms to remove ille­gal gam­bling adver­tise­ments and pro­mo­tional con­tent more quickly.

What addi­tional pow­ers does the BGC want reg­u­la­tors to receive?
The BGC is call­ing for enhanced author­ity for the UK Gam­bling Com­mis­sion to block ille­gal gam­bling web­sites and remove unli­censed appli­ca­tions.

Why are pay­ment providers included in the plan?
The BGC believes that block­ing finan­cial trans­ac­tions linked to ille­gal oper­a­tors could make it more dif­fi­cult for those busi­nesses to oper­ate.

What penal­ties are pro­posed for ser­vice providers?
The organ­i­sa­tion pro­poses sanc­tions for com­pa­nies that know­ingly pro­vide ser­vices such as adver­tis­ing, host­ing or pay­ment pro­cess­ing to ille­gal gam­bling oper­a­tors.

What con­sumer pro­tec­tions are avail­able in the reg­u­lated mar­ket?
Reg­u­lated oper­a­tors gen­er­ally pro­vide age ver­i­fi­ca­tion, iden­tity checks, safer gam­bling tools, afford­abil­ity mea­sures and for­mal dis­pute res­o­lu­tion pro­ce­dures.

What is the Gov­ern­men­t’s Black Mar­ket Task­force?
The Black Mar­ket Task­force is an ini­tia­tive aimed at address­ing ille­gal gam­bling activ­ity and improv­ing coor­di­na­tion between rel­e­vant stake­hold­ers.