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Request date: 16 May 2026
This version was printed or saved on: 4 June 2026
Online version: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/about-us/freedomofinformation/illegal-gambling-trading
How many illegal betting companies/providers have been forced to stop trading in the UK in the last 12 months.
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested how many illegal betting companies/providers have been forced to stop trading in the UK in the last 12 months.
The Commission is a regulatory body with licensing, compliance and enforcement functions. Through our regulatory enforcement activity, the Commission aims to protect consumers and the wider public, and to raise standards in the gambling industry. Part of our statutory remit and a key licensing objective is to keep crime out of gambling. When consumers access potentially illegal gambling operators, they expose themselves to many risks and are not afforded the protections in place that are expected in the regulated sector.
The Commission has, under section 28 of the Act, the power to investigate whether an offence has been committed under the Act and to commence legal proceedings in respect of such an offence. The Gambling Commission’s approach to tackling unlicensed gambling is available on our website: Blog - Unlicensed Gambling – Our approach to tackling unlicensed gambling.
The Gambling Commission have also published a four-part series on illegal online gambling. The series, launched in 2025, set out to improve understanding of consumer engagement with illegal online gambling, the risks it poses, and the actions being taken to disrupt it. The third chapter focuses on the disruption of the market, including the categories of third-party organisations the Commission engaged with and some of the metrics used to assess the effectiveness of this work. In order to be of assistance, please see the following information available on the Gambling Commission website:
Section 21 provides that information is exempt under the FOIA where it is reasonably accessible elsewhere. In order to be of assistance, we can advise that information specifically relating to enforcement activities to tackle online unlicensed gambling, undertaken from April 2025 to March 2026, can be found on our website: Activity to tackle unlicensed gambling and outcomes.
The Commission can also advise that information is held in relation to land-based operators, falling within the scope of your request. However, this information is not stored in an extractable format. We would be required to manually review large volumes of information, stored across several areas of the Commission to fulfil your request.
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for public authorities, such as the Commission, is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
We estimate, in order to identify, locate and retrieve the information relating to the above request, it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract any relevant information in reference to your request.
When a public authority applies the Section 12 exemption to a request, the FOIA guidance specifically states that a public authority should avoid providing any information found as a result of a search as it denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which parts of the request they may wish to receive within the appropriate time limit. Guidance on the application of section 12 can be viewed here:
If you are able to refine your request, we may be able to narrow the number of records that we need to search.
Until we are able to process the search of the information you have requested, we are unable to ascertain if other exemptions will apply to any material identified which would also prevent disclosure. For example, S31 – Law Enforcement provides an exemption for information that the Commission holds where disclosure would undermine the Commission’s licensing objective to keep crime out of gambling. Disclosure of this information could seriously impact the Commission’s ability to fulfil its statutory functions, which is strongly not in the public interest.
Any refined request would be processed as a new request and the 20 working day statutory time limit would apply.
Please note, we release details of our enforcement activity through public statements. The public statements will detail the nature of the failings by the operator and the amount of the fine or settlement. Further to this, the Commission also publishes a list of recent regulatory sanctions we have imposed on licence holders. However, public statements are only available on the Gambling Commission website for 3 years from the date of issue, more historic sanctions records are readily available on request.
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.
Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.
If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.
It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.
The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Information Management Team
Gambling Commission