Report

Illegal online gambling: Consumer engagement and trends

The Gambling Commission’s report into estimated trends in consumer engagement with illegal gambling websites.

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Published
25 September 2025

Last updated
30 September 2025 - Changes

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Contents

• Illegal online gambling: Consumer engagement and trends

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• Executive summary
• Introduction
• Identifying illegal gambling websites
• Measuring engagement with the online illegal market
• Assumptions on use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
• Conclusions
• Next steps
• Annexes
• • Annex A - Summary of approach, assumptions and caveats
  • Annex B - Bootstrapping methodology for web traffic estimates
  • Annex C - Consumer research on VPN use

Annex C - Consumer research on VPN use

Consumer research on Virtual Private Network (VPN) use (from Gambling Commission Consumer Voice survey (Phase 1; April 2024))

Consumer research on VPN use

VPN statement	All respondents (n=1,007) (percentage)	Has or does use unlicensed sites (n=127) (percentage)
I have a VPN and it is always on	7%	7%
I have a VPN, and I always use it when visiting gambling websites, specifically	5%	19%
I have a VPN, though I do not check if I am using it when visiting gambling websites	8%	18%
I have a VPN, though I never use it when visiting gambling websites	18%	21%
I do not have a VPN	58%	34%
Prefer not to say	3%	1%

Previous section
Annex B - Bootstrapping methodology for web traffic estimates

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Last updated: 30 September 2025

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