Gambling Commission to “Come After” Illegal Operators’ Whole Business

The Gambling Commission is broadening its efforts against the illegal market in Great Britain to target money, assets and business models that support illegal operators, rather than focusing on website disruption.

During the 2026/27 financial year so far, the regulator has issued 1,000 cease and desist notices issued to illegal operators, and referred 7.8 million URLs to search engines. A total of 3 million URLs have been removed from search results, and 2,200 websites have been referred for disruption action.

“We are coming after you”

However, the Commission now wants to take this a step further to include supporting entities which help fund illegal activity, rather than just the illegal operator itself. Speaking at the inaugural Illegal Gambling Awareness Week, Sue Young, Executive Director of Operations at the Commission, said:

"If you run an illegal gambling operation, we are coming after you, your business and your money.

"We've already shown we can take down and disrupt individual websites, and now we're going further. That means us interfering with illegal operators' whole business models, disrupting their payments, hindering their advertising and stopping them from obtaining the games and sportsbooks they so heavily rely on.”

The illegal gambling market is currently one of the standout topics of public conversation in the UK gambling industry. Industry trade body the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) has often warned of a rise in illegal gambling as a result of increased taxation, which could have an impact on operators’ bonusing and marketing budgets, and eventually push players to the black market.

According to a report from Fincord Intelligence, the global illegal online gambling market is estimated to have generated approximately $50 billion (£36.89 billion) in 2025, with British players who have self-excluded being targeted. In May, the BGC referenced an H2 Gambling Capital study, which found black market stakes in the UK are set to increase from £16.6 billion for 2025 to £33 billion by 2028.

A growing trend

The Commission’s number of URL referrals has risen from 147,721 in Q1 to 7.7 million in Q2; an increase of more than 5,000%. Young added: "Since January, we have already referred over £40 million of suspected criminal funds to partner agencies for potential asset freezing. By widening the net and focusing beyond removing websites, our mission is to hit illegal operators on all sides."

Last week, the Commission revealed a year’s worth of results from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), with the research showing one in 40 respondents (0.6%) had engaged with illegal gambling websites within the past four weeks. The data covered April 2025 to April 2026, although the full 2026 GSGB is yet to be published.

The information was published alongside an updated Illegal Gambling Data Dashboard, which will track trends in engagement and the impact of the Commission’s player protection work. According to the data, 0.4% of respondents had engaged with illegal gambling websites in the 12 months prior to being surveyed.

Low penetration overall

Overall, the proportion of people using illegal gambling websites among the whole population, including those who do not gamble, was low, with a 94.4% majority of respondents showing no indication of using an illegal gambling website. From all those who gambled online in the previous 12 months, 2.5% had engaged with illegal gambling websites within the previous four weeks, and a further 1.5% engaged in the previous 12 months.