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Industry warning notice: licensed software appearing on illegal market

20 January 2025

Tackling unlicensed gambling is central to the Commission’s objective of preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disrupting this illegal activity at scale.

The Commission have become aware of casino games supplied by licensed operators appearing on unlicensed websites available to Great British (GB) consumers illegally.

These markets are unregulated, and do not provide the same safeguards that are required of operators. They often target vulnerable customers, such as those who have self-excluded via the GAMSTOP scheme. The websites may have inadequate social responsibility and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls in place and leave customers open to risks of fraud, data privacy issues and unfair practices. It is therefore imperative that the Commission, in collaboration with the gambling industry and key partners take all possible steps to mitigate risk to GB consumers.

Operators providing Business-to-Business (B2B) gaming solutions including live games, live casinos and slots (‘B2B operators’) can help the Commission tackle the illegal market by reviewing their own practices. The Commission has found that, in some instances, third party resellers are distributing games supplied by operators to the illegal market, often in breach of their contractual obligations. Commission licensees may have been negligent in allowing them to do so and in the process, place their own licence at risk.

The Commission advises operators to actively monitor their business relationships to ensure any partners are not participating in offering illegal gambling facilities to the GB market, and where identified, terminating relationships where non-compliance has occurred.

It is critical that licensees also actively engage with the Commission where such activity is identified, setting out the preventative measures adopted to ensure such activity ceases immediately. Actively notifying the Commission and setting out a clear plan to mitigate the issue at pace is a minimum requirement.

The Commission is adopting a proactive approach to this matter and may decide at any point to conduct test purchasing activity to evidence potential breaches.

Working together to tackle a global problem

We encourage all of the gambling industry to remain engaged in supporting our efforts by actively monitoring the marketplace and reporting any illegal market activity that may impact GB consumers to the Commission. Suspicious activity can be reported to our intelligence team at intelligence@gamblingcommission.gov.uk or, alternatively, through our Confidential Portal at Tell us something in confidence (opens in new tab)

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Last updated: 27 January 2025

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