Report
Illegal online gambling: Disruption of illegal online gambling
The third chapter into the Gambling Commission's research in to illegal online gambling focusing on the disruption of the market.
Case studies
Unlicensed casinos
In November 2024, the Gambling Commission identified a concerning tactic used by illegal gambling websites concerning the use of in-game credits. These sites were found to be targeting users of a well-known online platform popular with children, which features an in-game currency that could only be used on the site. The illegal gambling websites were getting customers to provide their login credentials to the legitimate online platform, allowing these operators to access and transfer their in-game currency to accounts under their control. This currency was then converted into gambling credits on the illegal websites. The case raised significant concerns due to the appeal of the original platform among young people.
Providing unlicensed facilities for gambling within the UK without a licence is an offence under section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005 (opens in new tab) so 48-hour Cease and Desist (C&D) notifications were issued to the websites identified. The websites ignored these notifications, evidence was gathered of the ongoing offence and the sites were referred to their respective hosting providers, registrars and search engines with the aim of disrupting the websites operations.
The registrars of these websites suspended the domains based on the evidence presented by the Commission rendering the sites ineffective. The search engines also moderated the UK search results for the websites URLs making them harder to find.
Once notified, the legitimate platform advised providing and/or obtaining customer information in this way was against their terms of service and was taking place without their knowledge or consent. They further noted their branding and intellectual property had been used illegally by these illegal websites offering gambling facilities; and confirmed they were seeking legal action against those involved.
‘Skins’ third-party website
The site in question is a massive multiplayer online (MMO) sandbox video game where players can farm, build worlds, converse with others, and engage in player versus player combat.
Concerns arose where a third-party website, was available to GB consumers namely by offering facilities for gambling with the sites in-game currency. These concerns were multiplied when considering the general appeal of the MMO game to children.
The Commission established that the in-game currency, could be sold on a secondary market for money. The Commission considered that the gambling service being provided by the site indicated that they may be, at the very least, aware of the existence of a secondary market and therefore understood that the sites in-game currency had monetary value.
The Commission observed multiple websites via open source monitoring that offered this secondary market, where consumers could buy and/or sell the in-game currency via a method of transferring fiat and/or crypto currency to a seller, then that seller would meet the buyer in one of the virtual 'worlds' and transfer the in-game currency from the seller to the buyer as agreed.
Following a C&D to the operator, they opted to implement geo-blocking. The Commission corresponded with the owner and site to advise on the Commission’s stance that if in-game items were being openly gambled via third-party websites, and those websites were accessible to British consumers, the developer and/or owner of the game in which the in-game items were acquired may be inadvertently providing facilities for gambling under section 5 of the Gambling Act 2005 (“the Act”)(opens in new tab).
The Commission further advised that they may wish to consider how proactive they are with identifying and issuing takedown requests to third-party sites that are illegitimately offering gambling facilities with their in-game items and/or currency.
The site remains geo-blocked.
Football kit sponsorship
A report was received in July 2025 that showed leaked photos had been posted online indicating that a new football kit sponsor would be a gambling website which appeared to be an unlicensed casino based in Vietnam.
The Commission had concerns that the casino may be linked with other unlicensed sites that had previously been subject to disruption activity, the site was reviewed, and the Intelligence team were asked to conduct some further research to establish if there were any financial links. This came back with no trace, the Commission established that although the site could be viewed from GB it appeared incomplete. None of the links were operable so the website was subject to monitoring.
The football club were contacted and advised that sports organisations who engage in sponsoring and advertising arrangements with unlicensed gambling operators are at serious risk of committing a section 330 offence (advertising) and so, they must ensure the website continues to be inaccessible to GB consumers.
The football club took immediate action and provided the Commission with appropriate assurances. Checks were made as the season started, and the unlicensed casino was not being displayed as a kit sponsor.
Summary of disruption activity - Disruption of illegal online gambling Next section
New tactics coming into use - Disruption of illegal online gambling
Last updated: 21 October 2025
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