The present study examined the prevalence of unlicensed gambling in Great Britain through a survey of 1,322 adults who regularly gambled on activities other than lotteries. It was found that 5.7% of participants had gambled on unlicensed sites. Compared to those who did not use unlicensed gambling sites, these participants tended to be younger and female, though men still outnumbered women. They were more likely to be from non-white backgrounds, be unemployed, and have children under the age of 18. The most common reasons for gambling on unlicensed sites were using cryptocurrency to gamble (54.7%) and avoiding self-exclusion (50.7%; unlicensed sites are not part of GamStop, a national self-exclusion scheme). Gambling on unlicensed sites to avoid self-exclusion was associated with more severe problem gambling. These results could be of interest to regulators and policy makers.
