Tracking trends and measuring the impact of disruption in illegal markets
Our Data Scientist Tom Smith explains how our latest data publication has helped build a clearer understanding of the dynamics of the illegal gambling market, and how a 'multi-metric' approach will develop further.
Posted 5 November 2026 by Tom Smith
Understanding the illegal gambling market is a significant focus of our research and analysis work. Recent publications have provided more depth of insight on consumer motivations for using this market and how analysis of financial transactions can build a richer picture of consumer spending across illegal and legal markets. Our latest data release adds to the evidence base on the scale of illegal online gambling, trends in engagement, and the impact of our work to protect consumers through disruption.
Measuring a market, however, that operates illegally presents significant challenges. Operators constantly appear and disappear and consumers are not always aware of regulatory boundaries. Rather than relying on a single figure to make sense of this complex picture, we’ve adopted a multi-indicator approach, bringing together different sources of evidence to build a more comprehensive view.
Our new dashboard focuses on three key areas: supply, demand and disruption. Each contains a range of metrics: providing a different perspective, helping us identify patterns, explore potential relationships, and better understand how the market is changing.
The available data is largely based on estimates, each with its own assumptions and limitations. While these estimates provide valuable insights, they should not be treated as precise. No single indicator can tell us everything about illegal gambling. But by bringing together multiple sources of evidence, and being transparent about their limitations, we can build a clearer and more reliable picture of the market and strengthen the evidence that informs our response.
What is the data telling us about scale and trends?
Looking across our indicators, we are not observing any clear evidence of sustained or substantial recent growth in the illegal online gambling market. While some measures have seen small increases, others have remained relatively stable or declined.
For example, the number of illegal gambling websites we’ve identified has increased slightly over the past year, while overall estimated engagement by consumers with these websites has remained relatively stable over the same period. Other indicators, such as the number of affiliate webpages and the visibility of illegal operators in gambling search results, have fluctuated without a clear trendline yet emerging.
Data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain provides valuable insight from self-reported behavioural indicators of engagement. The headline results suggest usage by consumers is still relatively low across all respondents - with 1% of respondents demonstrating engagement in the past 12 months. However, there is a clear constituency of those who gamble online who are using the illegal market - with 4% of respondents who gambled online in the past 12 months indicating engagement with illegal gambling websites. This includes consumers who are aware they are using illegal websites and those whose usage is unintentional. As more data becomes available over a longer timeframe, we will be able to draw conclusions about what this data source tells us about broader trends.
What insight does the data provide on motivations?
Search estimates also provide insight into how consumers are finding illegal gambling websites. Searches for ‘not on Gamstop’ remain the most prominent theme, which aligns with findings from our consumer research. This suggests that ‘not on Gamstop’ has become something of a brand or label for finding illegal gambling websites, with consumers using the term to find these sites even when they haven’t previously self-excluded. We’re also seeing growing interest in cryptocurrency-related gambling searches, suggesting this is an emerging area to monitor. While estimated search volumes don’t necessarily translate into gambling participation, they can help us understand one way that consumers discover illegal operators and changing areas of interest.
Understanding the impact of disruption
We’ve also seen a substantial increase in Gambling Commission disruption activity during the second quarter of 2026 to 2027. There is a delay, however, between undertaking disruption activity and being able to assess its impact. Our measures of disruption success and traffic reduction require three months of web traffic estimates following an intervention, meaning the latest results currently cover activity up to the first quarter of 2026 to 2027. As a result, it is too early to assess the impact of the recent increase in disruption activity.
Where do we go next?
Bringing our information together in a transparent way in this dashboard is a step forward, but it's also a starting point. The indicators we've developed so far provide insights into the websites offering illegal gambling, the consumers accessing them, and our efforts to disrupt their activity.
The illegal gambling market extends well beyond the websites themselves. Behind these operators is a wider network of businesses and services that help them reach consumers and operate. This includes affiliates, social media platforms and other advertisers, payment providers, hosting services and other parts of the illegal gambling supply chain.
Our next priority is to expand the dashboard to capture more of these areas, developing additional indicators that help us understand not just the operators themselves, but the wider infrastructure that supports them. We will also develop the range of metrics we use to track engagement to better triangulate our existing data. As more data becomes available, we'll be better placed to distinguish short-term fluctuations from meaningful changes in the market.
Other research on illegal gambling
Published alongside this research today are fresh estimates on the extent of consumer engagement with illegal gambling websites. The new findings are a part of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain and will deepen our understanding of consumers who engage with illegal gambling and help us identify patterns and emerging risks. You can read more about this work in our latest blog.