Report
Illegal online gambling: Challenges of estimating the size of the illegal gambling market
The final chapter of the Gambling Commission's research into the illegal online market, focusing on challenges estimating the size of the market.
Annex B – Exploring motivations for accessing illegal gambling through estimates of search term volumes - Supplementary data
This annex is provided as supplementary information around motivations for engaging with illegal gambling. It is not directly linked to work to estimate the overall scale of this market.
In report 1, Illegal online gambling: Consumer awareness, drivers and motivations, we illustrated the wide range of consumer motivations for accessing illegal gambling websites. The key finding was that motivations are wide ranging. However, exploring which motivations are most prevalent is a significant challenge.
Through the development of this report, we have obtained data on illegal gambling websites by using search terms which reflect consumer motivations. Our approach to this is explained in more detail in Illegal online gambling: Consumer engagement and trends.
In the following table, we have provided data from SimilarWeb on the estimated volumes of searches made using these terms. These results should be seen as indicative only – but nonetheless provide an insight into which motivations might be most prevalent amongst consumers using these websites.
Our search terms have been grouped by theme. Data is set out in Annex B. Notable observations include:
- search terms related to ‘not on Gamstop’, or similar are estimated to have the highest volumes -suggesting that searches related to this motivation are made most frequently
- search terms related to the use of crypto assets were the next most frequently used: this suggests consumers are specifically searching for these opportunities which are not available in the legal market
- search terms related to ‘no identity verification’, ‘no age verification’ and international gambling opportunities did not have large enough search volumes for Similar web to provide an estimate: this suggests these terms are less frequently used by consumers compared to searches related to ‘not-on-Gamstop’ or crypto gambling.
These results are indicative only. It should be noted that search engines are only one route to accessing illegal sites. More work is needed to explore the accuracy of these estimates and whether motivations reflected in search term volumes are changing over time
Annex B - Search term volume by SimilarWeb estimate
| Search term | Theme | Volume estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Non gamstop casinos | Not on gamstop | 6,420 |
| Casinos not on Gamstop | Not on gamstop | 5,640 |
| Non gamstop casino | Not on gamstop | 3,310 |
| Crypto casino | Crypto | 1,220 |
| Crypto gambling | Crypto | 840 |
| Crypto gambling sites | Crypto | 670 |
| Crypto gambling sites | Sites not on gamstop | 480 |
| Crypto gambling sites | Sites not on gamstop | 480 |
| Non gamstop betting sites | Sites not on gamstop | 340 |
| Non gamstop betting sites | Crypto | 280 |
| Casino not on gamstop | Not on Gamstop | 270 |
| Crypto betting | Crypto | 270 |
| Non gamstop sites | Not on Gamstop | 0 |
| Non gamstop slots | Not on Gamstop | 0 |
| Slots not on gamstop | Not on Gamstop | 0 |
| Non gamstop uk | Not on Gamstop | No data |
| Non gamstop betting | Not on Gamstop | No data |
| Non gamstop uk sites | Not on Gamstop | No data |
| Non gamstop casino sites | Not on Gamstop | No data |
| Betting not on gamstop | Not on Gamstop | No data |
| Non gamban casinos | Not on Gamstop | No data |
| No verification casinos | Not on Gamstop | No data |
| No verification casinos | No identity checks | No data |
| No kyc casinos | No identity checks | No data |
| Best casinos no limits | No identity checks | No data |
| Best gambling sites without affordability checks | No identity checks | No data |
| Betting sites with no affordability checks | No identity checks | No data |
| Betting sites without affordability checks | No identity checks | No data |
| Gambling sites with no affordability checks | No identity checks | No data |
| Gambling sites without financial checks | No identity checks | No data |
| No affordability checks casino uk | No identity checks | No data |
| No financial assessment gambling | No identity checks | No data |
| No financial checks gambling uk | No identity checks | No data |
| No income check betting sites | No identity checks | No data |
| UK gambling sites no checks | No identity checks | No data |
| Best foreign casinos | International | No data |
| Best international casinos | International | No data |
| Bitcoin casiono | Crypto | No data |
| Btc casiono | Crypto | No data |
| Btc casiono | Crypto | No data |
| Gambling sites without age verification | No age checks | No data |
| No age verification gambling | No age checks | No data |
| Online casinos no age check | No age checks | No data |
| No age check betting | No age checks | No data |
| No age limit gambling | No age checks | No data |
Data collected for August 2025. Source : SimilarWeb
A search volume of 0 indicates the search term is included in SimilarWeb's database, but estimated search volumes were extremely low, likely below the threshold of what SimilarWeb considers statistically significant. ‘No data’ indicates the term was not included in SimilarWeb’s database for the selected time period, either because it was too obscure, too new, or SimilarWeb did not have enough data to generate an estimate.
Previous sectionAnnex A - Summary of next steps to improve estimates
Last updated: 6 November 2025
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