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.
Conclusion and looking ahead
Through collaborative work across internal departments, the Commission has built a multi-disciplinary approach to effectively understand, measure and enforce disruption tactics reflecting the complexity of current illegal techniques employed by site owners.
We will continue to build on, and develop our strategy to tackling illegal markets activity as our knowledge base continues to increase and we test the effectiveness of the disruption methods currently being used.
We will continue to engage with local and international agencies to increase our knowledge on overseas licence holders, and to align our responses to sites operating illegally across both jurisdictions
We will look to use web traffic tools data that can be added to reports coded to enforcements requirements, with monitoring of activity to provide contemporaneous data informing action.
We recognise the emergence of AI and will continue to explore opportunities to continue to automate and target sites causing the most harm.
We also continue to work closely with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and other government departments in relation to new powers proposed to tackle illegal online gambling, including the Government’s proposed Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently moving through Parliament. This new legislation proposes new powers to be made available to the Gambling Commission to make a court application that, if granted, would provide the ability to block access to an illegal gambling website using a method called Domain Name System (DNS) blocking.
Collaboration with stakeholders remains an important aspect of our work to understand and disrupt illegal online gambling. Data sharing arrangements, and collaboration opportunities with international gambling regulators will help to reinforce our disruption approach and build a more comprehensive picture of the illegal online gambling market. This work will not only continue to contribute towards how we test and develop our response, but will also identify emerging threats, international targets and future opportunities to disrupt illegal online operators across multiple jurisdictions at the same time.
In addition to these measures, we recognise the significant role that advertisers and technology providers can play in helping to disrupt illegal gambling activity. While we are already working constructively with a number of platforms, the scale and sophistication of the issue mean further engagement is essential. We are exploring ways to strengthen these partnerships to reduce exposure and access to illegal sites.
We also see a valuable opportunity for industry to continue to support our efforts by sharing intelligence about illegal markets activity having an impact and to also gather insight into marketing and advertising strategies associated with the regulated sector. Alongside our existing approach, this collaboration will be vital in ensuring we continue to tackle illegal activity causing the most harm and develop our wider understanding of the marketing and advertising techniques being deployed or copied by illegal markets actors.
Alongside this, we will continue to deploy our current disruption tactics and publish quarterly outcomes data that provides insight of our disruption work, ensuring transparency and accountability as our approach continues to evolve.
Anyone with information about illegal gambling activity targeting consumers in Great Britain is encouraged to contact our Intelligence Team confidentially via:
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Last updated: 21 October 2025
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