The festive period is a great time for sports fans in the UK, with a seemingly never-ending menu of football and horse racing in particular.
In 2025, that appetising duo has been joined by the Ashes, which has provided another betting outlet for punters – and a rare win for those backing a doomed England in the fourth test.
But there’s a darker side to the festive frivolity, with an estimated £100 million wagered with illegal ‘black market’ bookmakers on Boxing Day alone.
It’s another reminder that the harsh tax regime that UK operators face, as unleashed in the government’s Autumn Budget, has unwanted side effects that can impact the welfare of punters and the integrity of the industry.
Boxing Day Bonus
Data gathered by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has confirmed the staggering spend by punters with unlicensed firms.
On Boxing Day alone, which saw a stacked card of racing in the UK and Ireland – including The Jukebox Man’s triumph in the King George VI Chase – and Manchester United take on Newcastle United, that huge sum of £100 million was wagered.
It’s an estimate based on annual black market spend, with Boxing Day sport generally accounting for 1% of a bookmaker’s yearly betting take.
These unlicensed operators do not pay tax in the UK and are not subject to the same standards as regulated firms; hence the horror stories of these so-called bookmakers not paying out on winning bets or effectively disappearing overnight.
Advertising themselves via social media channels such as WhatsApp, black market betting operators are able to reach a huge customer base despite lacking any of the necessary background checks to operate legally on UK soil.
Worst still, they will even accept bets without verifying a punter’s age or financial circumstances – opening the door to unsafe and dangerous gambling activity.
The BGC’s Grainne Hurst commented:
“Boxing Day is one of the biggest days of the year for sport and betting, and the harmful illegal black market is gearing up for a huge payday, with Brits set to stake up to £100 million illegally in just 24 hours.
“That money goes straight to criminal operators who offer zero protections and pay no tax. If higher taxes make regulated betting less attractive, the harmful black market will be the only winner.”
Kempton Calamity
The King George meeting on Boxing Day was the focal point of the action.
It was a great day of racing for sofa surfers, but perhaps less so for punters on the ground at Kempton Park – power cuts meant that the bars and eateries on site were forced to temporarily close, while the racecourse’s big screens were also out of action.
It was a King George VI Chase for the ages, with four horses – The Jukebox Man, Banbridge, Gaelic Warrior and Jango Baie – all within a length of each other heading into the final yards.
In the end, it was Harry Redknapp’s horse that prevailed by a nose from the fast-finishing Banbridge.
That was a big win for regulated and unlicensed bookmakers alike, with The Jukebox Man something of an outsider at 7/1 – the big money had come for the 9/4 joint favourites in Gaelic Warrior and Jango Baie.
It was a spectacle that could be a thing of the past if Kempton Park racecourse, the storied host of the King George, is sold.
That has long been mooted, with plans revealed as long ago as 2020 confirming that the Jockey Club and Redrow Homes had come to an agreement that would see racing continue at Kempton but some of the land sold to property development.
In the intervening years, said plans have been modified and mutated to suggest that Kempton Park in its entirety could now be under threat from developers.
That was the takeaway point from a recent update provided by the Jockey Club, who earlier in December revealed investment plans for Cheltenham, Aintree and Epsom – but no mention of much-needed spending on Kempton was offered.
And to make the waters even murkier, Jockey Club chief executive Jim Mullen has since admitted that the racecourse’s future was ‘out of my hands’.
“Back in 2018, the Jockey Club and Redrow negotiated an option to develop Kempton and that option was negotiated and transferred to Redrow. They have the option to exercise that for development,” Mullen continued.
The insinuation is that if Redrow draw up plans for a new build housing estate on the Kempton Park land, the Jockey Club would have no choice but to hand over the keys. And that, given the UK government’s current obsession with concreting over green spaces, seems highly likely.
The King George will still be a popular betting heat wherever it’s held, but it will undoubtedly lose some of its prestige if shifted away from its spiritual home…