NEW RESEARCH SHOWS UK BLACK MARKET GAMBLING IS RAPIDLY GROWING PROBLEM

New research suggests black market online gambling is a rapidly growing problem in the UK.

As pressure continues to mount in the UK for additional restrictions on licensed gambling operators, the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) has published research commissioned from PwC showing black market gaming activity is a growing problem. 

The findings are at odds with the UK Gambling Commission’s insistence that the problem of competition from unlicensed gaming operators is being exaggerated by the industry, and that introducing tighter restrictions won’t push more gamblers to unlicensed operators. 

According to the BGC’s Review of Unlicensed Online Gambling in the UK, which was published earlier today and based on data collected in November and December 2020, the amount of money staked with unlicensed operators rocketed from £1.4B GBP to £2.8B year-on-year. The number of players thought to be using black market sites also surged from 210K two years ago, to 460K. 

Commenting on the findings BGC chief executive, Michael Dugher, said:

“This new report by PwC is an impressive and comprehensive piece of work which demonstrates how the unsafe, unregulated black market is a growing threat to British punters.

“These illicit sites have none of the regulated sector’s consumer protections in place, such as strict ID and age verification checks, safer gambling messages and the ability to set deposit limits.

“It is important to stress that the big increase in the black market is not an argument against more changes to the regulated industry, but an argument that we need to get them right.”

With the UK government currently reviewing the 2005 Gambling Act, operators are urging politicians and regulators to avoid more restrictions that will make licensed operators less attractive, and push even more players to the black market. 

Reacting to the BGC’s latest report, William Hill CEO Ukrik Bengtsson said:

“Here at William Hill, we have long been concerned by the black market in gambling and the threat it poses to customers. Our view of the gambling black market is it’s a growing problem that we must confront. Everyone who gambles in Britain deserves protection from illegal operators. We must do all that we can to make sure that remains the case.”

While Flutter Entertainment’s UK and Ireland Division Chairman, Ian Proctor, added:

“The Gambling Act Review is a moment for regulated and responsible operators to ask ourselves how we can raise our game to drive forward enhanced safer gambling practices. 

“The report on the growth of the black market published by PwC today, is an important reminder of the complex challenges operators, Government and other stakeholders must address to ensure that the review of gambling regulation delivers genuine improvements in customer protection, rather than cosmetic change which might inadvertently open the door to greater unlicensed participation in the UK market.”

AYO.NEWS says:

While it is obviously true that the BGC is an industry body, and so will always be biased towards the operators it represents, the basic issue here is one of logic. That is that if there is a demand for certain types of gambling products or services, and licensed operators are not able to provide them due to legal restrictions, customers absolutely will look elsewhere. They won’t just magically disappear into thin air, no matter how much the anti-gambling lobby wants them to. 

So, the choice is simple. Either stop turning the screws on licensed gambling operators so that they can realistically compete with unlicensed ones, while encouraging best practice, investing in decent education, and enforcing existing rules, and accept there will always be some problem gambling. Or, stop beating around the bush and ban gambling.

The idea that anti-gambling campaigners will ever be satisfied is naive to say the least. Although anti-gambling campaigners try to hide behind a veneer of objectivity, it is entirely fake. This is not to say their viewpoint is wrong. It is just “calling a spade a spade.” For, the undeniable truth is that anyone who has been negatively affected by problem gambling is naturally going to take issue with the gambling industry, and cannot be objective (just as the gambling industry itself cannot be objective). 

And, with the anti-gambling pressure groups being increasingly appeased by virtue signalling politicians looking to score votes, and a so-called “lived experience” panel being appointed to advise the UKGC, unless something changes and we get truly neutral, objective people making the decisions, the future is looking difficult for the UK gambling industry. 

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