UK Government Outlines Objectives for Illegal Gambling Taskforce

The UK government has set out three main objectives for its Illegal Gambling Taskforce, focusing on payments, online advertising and cross-agency collaboration.

The taskforce was launched in January, bringing together a range of stakeholders to tackle illegal gambling, particularly online. The taskforce includes companies such as Google, Visa, TikTok and Mastercard alongside law enforcement and advertising bodies.

Objectives in detail

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has now released more details of how the taskforce will work operationally. The first of the three standout objectives will be to prevent or reduce payments to illegal operators. The second objective will be to tackle online advertising of illegal gambling, while the third objective is to improve cross-agency collaboration and enforcement work regarding illegal remote and land-based gambling.

A sub-group will be established to address all three of those issues and will inform the taskforce of any progress or recommendations. The taskforce will run for 12 months, before being reviewed and renewed if necessary. The taskforce will meet at least twice a year, and the DCMS has recommended sub-groups meet at least quarterly to inform the twice-yearly taskforce meetings.

The taskforce will be chaired by Baroness Fiona Twycross, who is the Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling. Members of the taskforce will be expected to contribute proactively to the work of the taskforce, including attending and contributing to meetings and participating in sub-groups.

The government stressed the taskforce will not be expected to intervene in operational matters being dealt with by British regulator the Gambling Commission. While the names of companies involved have been revealed, the DCMS is yet to confirm the identities of individuals on the taskforce.

Black market in focus

The scale of illegal gambling in the UK is a topic that has been consistently making headlines within the industry recently. Last week, the Commission began advertising for a Head of Illegal Markets.

The successful applicant will be tasked with leading high-profile and criminal investigations, providing oversight to the Commission’s illegal markets response, leading on covert surveillance, representing the Commission in judicial proceedings, and contributing to illegal market strategy development, among other duties.

Data also emerged last week showing the annual amount staked with illegal gambling operators from UK-based players has more than tripled to £16.6 billion since 2019. According to an H2 Gambling Capital study, the amount staked on offshore betting has grown from £5 billion in 2019. The data also shows a lower proportion of bets are being placed on regulated sites, falling from 97% of bets to 92% in 2025.

White Paper impact

Increased black market activity is forecast following the implementation of the government’s 2023 Gambling White Paper. Among the terms recommended were affordability checks (also known as financial risk assessments), improved identification checks, a statutory levy, and a cap on the maximum stakes on online slots at £5 for older adults and £2 for younger adults.

Last week, a macroeconomic study published by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research found measures from the White Paper will have a net negative impact of approximately £189 million per year on the wider UK economy, in part driven by greater numbers betting on unlicensed websites.

The study found about 8% of people who regularly gamble reported they would consistently consider visiting unlicensed gambling websites. Close to one third of this group (32.7%) already gamble on unlicensed websites.

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