Report
Illegal online gambling - Phase 2: Identifying indicators of consumer engagement with illegal gambling websites
The Gambling Commission's report on the second phase of the Consumer Voice illegal gambling project.
Contents
Motivations and routes into the illegal market
The first few stages of the Gambling Commission’s Path to Play framework are ‘passive influences’, ‘external triggers’ and ‘internal impulses’. To understand these triggers, influences, and impulses, this phase of the research sought to understand the types of factors that people who gamble consider when choosing a website to gamble with. This question was asked of all respondents in the survey before delving into their potential illegal gambling website usage, to get a clean, unclouded understanding of the range of motivations across the whole sample.
Motivations
Given the approach stated previously, identification with motivations and factors specifically related to the illegal market was low.
These factors included:
- accessing games or products unavailable in Great Britain
- avoiding bank gambling blocks
- avoiding stake or spend limits
- avoiding bans or account restrictions
- finding websites that do not require age or identity verification
- using alternative payment methods (for example, credit cards, cryptocurrency, NFTs)
- avoiding GAMSTOP
- avoiding Gamban.
These factors tended to be less commonly selected than broader ranging motivations in their top 3 factors when choosing a website (ranging between 2 to 4 percent), suggesting that motivations uniquely offered by the illegal market are not of high priority for most who gamble.
However, when looking at the top 3 factors for those who reported using illegal gambling websites, there were some significant differences, as shown in Table 1. These differences centre around some specific motivations for illegal website usage (for example, avoiding GAMSTOP or Gamban), whereas others concern more adjacent motivations – such as, those that do not specifically relate to illegal website usage alone, but are often a pathway into the market, as was found in Phase 1 (for example, playing or discovering new games, or high return to player (RTP) percentages).
Table 1: Top 3 factors in choosing gambling website to gamble with in last 4 weeks: all, versus illegal gambling website users
| Factor in website choice in last 4 weeks (Top 3) | Total sample (respondents who had gambled online in last 4 weeks) (percentage) | Illegal gambling website users in last 4 weeks (percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| High returns, that is, high Return to Player (RTP) percentages | 9% | 15%* |
| Playing or discovering new games that I haven’t played before | 5% | 13%* |
| Accessing games or products not available in Great Britain | 4% | 16%* |
| Avoiding bans or account restrictions placed on me by other gambling companies | 3% | 12%* |
| Avoiding bank gambling blocks | 3% | 6%* |
| To pay with different methods than usual (for example, credit card, cryptocurrency, NFTs) | 3% | 11%* |
| Finding websites that do not require me to verify my age or identity before allowing me to gamble | 3% | 12%* |
| Avoiding GAMSTOP | 2% | 7%* |
| Avoiding Gamban | 2% | 5%* |
A5. When choosing a website to gamble with in the last 4 weeks, which of the following are factors in your decision? Top 3 Factors. All respondents (2,046), illegal gambling website users in last 4 weeks (117).
These findings lend credence to anecdotal evidence from Phase 1 that, for people who have self-excluded from gambling, either via GAMSTOP, Gamban, or a bank gambling block1, illegal gambling websites hold more appeal.
“I would just be looking for someone who would take my money right now.”
Male, Self-Excluder
“I googled ‘gambling sites not on GAMSTOP’ and found them that way. At the time, I didn’t think about whether they were licensed or not, I just wanted to find someone I could gamble with.”
Female, Self-Excluder
When it comes to the perceived importance of gambling websites to have a licence to operate in Great Britain specifically, illegal gambling website users show less strength of feeling (46 percent finding it very important, with 3 percent finding it somewhat important) compared to the total sample of respondents (62 percent very important, 25 percent somewhat important). However, it is worth noting that, even with less strength of feeling, over 8 in 10 (84 percent) of illegal gambling website users grant at least some level of importance to operators having licences in Great Britain, specifically.
Interestingly, there is seemingly a cognizance of what it means to be at least licensed somewhere, with illegal gambling website users considerably more likely (71 percent) than those without an indication of using illegal gambling websites (41 percent) to report it is important to them that operators have a licence to operate somewhere else. It is likely that, for the latter group, since their gambling activities do not expand beyond the typical, licensed scope within Great Britain, an operator’s licensing status outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction is not something that is on their radar.
Routes
This research also sought to understand the ‘active search’ stage (of the Path to Play) for individuals who gamble, in particular relation to the online illegal market. To do so, illegal gambling website users – either intentional users, or those that may have done so based on behavioural indicators – were asked for their entry route into the website(s) they used in the last 4 weeks.
Most commonly, respondents used self-find methods such as search engines (23 percent) or using websites they had gambled with before (19 percent). This validates findings from Phase 1 that demonstrated search engines were a crucial discovery tool, particularly for those that had self-excluded from gambling, to find ways around their gambling restrictions. This sentiment was reflected in engagement with the Commission’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel group.
Illegal websites are often found through communication with others, with social media being especially strong as a source (NET: 30 percent), particularly Facebook (14 percent), Telegram (9 percent), WhatsApp (9 percent), and to a lesser extent, Instagram (8 percent) and Reddit (7 percent). 3 in 20 (16 percent) found the website(s) via word of mouth, with a tenth (10 percent) specifically citing an influencer2. A further 9 percent reported that the website(s) was endorsed on a gambling forum, or reached them via direct marketing, respectively. Again, this builds on findings from the first phase that both private and open communities for individuals who gamble were routes into illegal websites for those searching for knowledge and discussion around their motivations for gambling.
“I’ve met friends through Telegram and become quite close with some, even meeting up at Wetherspoons.”
Male, aged 25 to 34 years, Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) 22
“You learn more about these sites from others. We show each other which sites we’re using and primarily learn from each other on Telegram.”
Male, aged 25 to 34 years, Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) 22
Social media was more likely as an entry route among those that had self-excluded using GAMSTOP (55 percent), indicating a potential concern of targeted advertising.
Age is a significant factor in the route used to an illegal website, with word of mouth (25 percent), Telegram (17 percent), WhatsApp (17 percent) and Reddit (16 percent) all statistically significantly more likely to be sources among 18 to 24-year-olds; almost 0 individuals aged 65 years and over identified these routes into the market.
References
*Statistically significant difference between the total sample and the unlicensed gambling website users at a 95 percent confidence interval.
1Individuals can block their bank account or debit card, which stops the account from being used for gambling transactions. For more details, see the Commission’s website.
2The term influencers refers to individuals who promote gambling activities to others via online platforms (for example Twitch streamers, YouTube streamers, social media celebrities).
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Last updated: 18 September 2025
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