British gamblers bet £2.7 billion a year through underground websites, according to the lobby group, which argues that increased regulation of the licensed industry will encourage more illegal gambling.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has published research estimating that 1.5 million Britons are gambling in an illegal industry that is easy to find and already commonly used.
The estimate, from a report commissioned by BGC and produced by Frontier Economics, represents around 2% of the £128 billion bet made at licensed online gambling companies last year.
But the BGC said this figure was an understatement as it refers to the amount of money wagered, not the amount gamblers lose.Taking into account face-to-face gambling such as bets between friends and games of poker, the size of unlicensed gambling could actually be as much as £4.3 billion, or 3% of the total industry, it said.
“There is a danger that governments and regulators will unwittingly wade into this issue,” said BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst, a former Ladbrokes executive who worked for gambling advocate and former MP Philip Davis.
“Simply giving the Gambling Commission more powers and resources to tackle the black market will not be effective. Enforcement is only part of the solution.”
Calls from “anti-gambling” advocates for stricter regulation would only drive more people to illegal sites, Hurst predicted.
She pointed to proposals such as new restrictions on gambling advertising, which are supported by activists, and ability-to-pay checks, proposed in a government white paper published last year and being trialled by the Gambling Commission.
The change of government has left many of the measures proposed in the White Paper in limbo, setting off a scramble among lobbyists, including the BGC, to influence the government’s next steps.
The Labour Party has strong ties to the gambling industry and was responsible for the liberalisation of gambling laws under Tony Blair’s government in 2007.
But Derek Webb, a former professional poker player and entrepreneur who has emerged as the biggest donor to the gambling reform campaign, has donated half a million pounds to the Labour Party since the election was called in May.
Labour has yet to unveil policies on several hotly contested issues, including limits on betting on digital slot machines and a mandatory £100 million tax on the industry to fund research, education and treatment for people who suffer gambling-related harm – both of which have been frozen since the election.
The government has announced a ban on junk food advertising ahead of the law change, but campaigners are calling for a reversal of the Conservatives’ “bizarre” decision not to consider tougher restrictions on gambling advertising.
After newsletter promotion
BGC and gambling operators have frequently highlighted the risks posed by the underground market as an argument for caution when it comes to regulating the sector.
The Gambling Commission has previously accused the industry of exaggerating the risks of hidden markets.
A spokesman for the Commission said its dedicated Hidden Markets Unit was “committed to eradicating unlicensed gambling in the UK”.
“Since April, the team has issued more than 750 cease and desist orders and notices of obstruction, including 259 […] “10,000 warnings were issued to operators and 189 to advertisers,” they said. “During the same period, the Commission reported over 78,000 URLs to Google, of which 50,000 were removed by the search engine and 221 websites were closed. This represents a tenfold increase in the number of URL closures compared to the whole of 2023-24.”
A government spokesman said: “We recognise the harmful impact gambling can have on individuals and their families and are committed to strengthening protections for those at risk.”
