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Report

Phase 4: Illegal Gambling Index – Technical Report

The Gambling Commission’s technical report detailing the development of the Illegal Gambling Index.

Published
5 November 2026

Last updated
5 November 2026 - Changes

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Contents

Calculating the index

Index scores are halved for each indicator if identified in the last 12 months (rather than in the ‘past 4 weeks’ ago) – then halved again if identified further back – that is, ‘more than 12 months ago’, to demonstrate the decreasing confidence in response based on poorer recall. 

Table 6: Final strength ratings given to indicators

Final strength ratings given to indicators
Indicator A3S. Not on Gamstop B1_A. VPN usage B1_B. Paying using cryptocurrency B1_C. Paying using a credit card B1_D. Paying using NFTs B1_E. Avoiding verification B1_F. Cancelling a withdrawal
Strength of indicator Near certain Strong Strong Weaker Strong Near certain Near certain
Yes, in the past 4 weeks 3 2 2 1 2 3 3
Yes, in the past 12 months 1.5 1 1 0.5 1 1.5 1.5
More than 12 months ago 0.75 0.5 0.5 0.25 0.5 0.75 0.75
Never 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

From this initial stage, as you can calculate by summing the top row, the maximum feasible index score when summing all the most recent indicators is 16. To create an easy-to-comprehend, single metric for the Gambling Commission with a range of 0 to 100, we have then scaled up the index from a maximum of 18 to 100 (by multiplying 16 – the maximum score - by 6.2511 ) so that the maximum feasible score – that is, if a respondent identified all seven indicators within the past 4 weeks – is 100.  

So, given the strength ratings assigned and the maximum combination of these totalling 100, the index calculations are as follows.

Table 7: Final index calculations for the indicators

Final Index calculations for the indicators
Indicator A3S. Not on Gamstop B1_A. VPN usage B1_B. Paying using Cryptocurrency B1_C. Paying using a Credit card B1_D. Paying using NFTs B1_E. Avoiding verification B1_F. Cancelling a withdrawal
Strength of indicator Near certain Strong Strong Weaker Strong Near certain Near certain
Multiplication factor 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25
Yes, in the past 4 weeks 18.75 12.50 12.50 6.25 12.50 18.75 18.75
Yes, in the past 12 months 9.38 6.25 6.25 3.13 6.25 9.38 9.38
More than 12 months ago 4.69 3.13 3.13 1.57 3.13 4.69 4.69
Never 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

References

11 This multiplication factor may change to respond to new indicators being built into the Index in future, or the upgrading and/or downgrading of the strength of the current indicators in use.

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Final strength ratings for the index Next section
Reporting the findings
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