This reserach report explores illegal online gambling in Great Britain. The report is the second in a series of four reports published by the Gambling Commission and examines potential indicators of consumer engagement with illegal gambling operators. In December 2024, 2,046 adults who were broadly representative of the population and who had gambled at least once in the last four weeks (excluding those that had only played National Lottery products), completed an online survey. Overall, the findings revealed that those who gamble in the illegal market do so because it provides features that are not present in the licensed market.
Features not present in the licenced market include:
- Certain gambling products
- Gambling operators that do not have certain restrictions, such as age or identity verification
- Gambling operators that allow different methods of payment
- Gambling operators that are not covered by multi-operator self-exclusion programs or blocking software
Indicators of illegal online gambling include:
- Intentional use of an illegal gambling website
- Signing up to a gambling operator without age or identity verification
- Cancelling a withdrawal before it reached a person's bank or wallet
