In her Autumn Budget announced back in November, the UK chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a £26 million fund for the Gambling Commission in a bid to disrupt the growth of the black market.
And that kitty is now being dipped into, with the regulator last week announcing they would be creating a new job role: the £65,000 a year position of Head of Illegal Markets.
The commitment to tackling the unlicensed sector has been furthered this week with further details of the Illegal Gambling Taskforce first mooted back in January.
This group, made up of various stakeholders from the industry, will meet to action ideas on how to disrupt the flow of payments to black market operators, as well as how to reduce the success of their advertising activities.
Joining Forces
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport revealed via the government website on Wednesday the mandate of the Illegal Gambling Taskforce.
Representatives from a number of different groups, including trade bodies, social media platforms, payment processors and law enforcement officials, will meet twice yearly in a bid to tackle the growing threat of the illegal sector.
Three specific areas of disruption have been targeted:
- Preventing, or reducing, payments made to black market operators
- Minimising the online advertising of illegal firms
- Improving collaboration between the industry and law enforcement in tackling both illegal land-based and online activity
Should the sub-groups identify solutions to any of these problems, they will feed back to the taskforce, who will then have the remit to communicate directly with government officials on any legislative changes that may need to be made.
The taskforce is initially expected to run for 12 months, at which point the scope of its operations will be reviewed. The group will be headed by Baroness Twycross in her role as gambling minister, with further input from the Gambling Commission and other governmental departments expected.
“By uniting key players across the industry – from tech companies and advertisers to social media and payment platforms – and sharing expertise, we can make a real impact,” Twycross commented.
“Our taskforce will work together over the next year to ensure that people who wish to gamble can do so safely, with the right protections in place.”
Baroness @fionatwycross launched the new Illegal Gambling Taskforce and set out its mission to tackle this important issue.
“By uniting key players across the industry – from tech companies and advertisers, to social media and payment platforms – and sharing expertise, we can… pic.twitter.com/68LBmyW2rQ
— Department for Culture, Media and Sport (@DCMS) January 28, 2026
Clamping Down
The government has been moved to action by some damning reports as to the black market’s size and scale.
Earlier this month, research published by the market intelligence firm H2 Gambling Capital revealed that the illegal sector had grown by more than 300% since 2019, with £16.6 billion in bets now placed with unlicensed operators each year.
Most alarmingly, that scale means that the black market has doubled in size since the beginning of 2023.
The report also confirms that the amount of activity at licensed operators has reduced to a worrying degree since 2019, with just 92% of bets now placed with regulated firms – as opposed to 97% six years ago.
The government themselves must shoulder some of the blame, with tightened regulation and tax increases just some of their instruments that have made legitimate bookmakers and casinos less appealing to punters – be it directly or indirectly.
Black market operators are also becoming increasingly easy to find, with illegal bookies and offshore sites able to advertise readily on social media channels and via WhatsApp.
A study conducted by the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) exposed that black market firms will be spending in the region of £850 million on paid ads by October of this year – by 2028, that figure could exceed £1 billion and see illegal firms outstripping their regulated rivals for promotional spend.
Whether the taskforce is able to create change remains to be seen, although the fact that law enforcement officials will be assisting the group hints at possible powers to directly intervene in breaking up black market operations.
Meanwhile, licensed bookmakers are taking matters into their own hands. Entain have written to the owners of six Premier League clubs, including Bournemouth, asking them to end their sponsorship agreements with illegal betting firms.
Front of shirt deals will be banned as of the 2026/27 season, however there’s nothing to stop clubs from penning other agreements – such as training kit sponsorship or pitch-side hoarding ads – with unlicensed operators.