Statistics released by Yield Sec indicate that black market gambling operators in the U.K. are increasingly trying to lure vulnerable populations, iGaming Business reported January 10.
They have targeted a rising number of players who had self-excluded on Gamstop at the same time that black market operators increased by a factor of four between 2021 and 2022 and doubled again in 2023. They are also targeting minors.
Yield Sec concludes that black market gambling now is 4 percent of the total U.K. online market. This has taken a significant chunk out of taxes collected, taxes that help fund responsible gaming initiatives such as Gamstop.
At the same time, Yield Sec says that thousands of Google searches have been made to find out how to avoid self-exclusion on legal platforms. This problem is even worse on illegal websites, where self-exclusion mechanisms don’t work.
Yield Sec founder and CEO Ismail Vali told iGaming Business: “Our surveillance highlights the disturbing and cynical growth of a certain type of illegal operator present in the UK over the past three years.”
He added, “The evidence of illicit gambling options that seek to cynically work around and enable vulnerable problem gamblers to avoid Gamstop self-exclusion is distressing and demands immediate and meaningful intervention.”
Vali wants to dedicate more resources toward fighting illicit gaming and to see more cooperation between regulators, legal casinos and the police.
The U.K.’s white paper, the first proposed revamping of gambling since 2005, seeks to increase regulatory power to fight the black market.
Some critics warn that affordability checks called for in the white paper will drive vulnerable players onto illicit sites.
Longtime gaming industry veteran David Brown who was executive trading director for William Hill, Coral and LadbrokesCoral, told iGaming Business, “This present scenario of potentially highly intrusive affordability checks is likely to encourage illegal operators within Britain,” adding, “A wise position would be to be alive to the threat of illegal activity and work collaboratively as an industry to identify it and prosecute under the law. Stopping illegal traffic through geo-blocking and advertising into the country is a good place to start.”
He continued, “However, that will not halt British bettors engaging with betting operators outside the GC’s jurisdiction. This also does nothing to identify any black market non-digital betting within Britain.”
