Gambling Commission reports 266,667 illegal gambling URLs removed in 2025/2026

The Gambling Commission said 266,667 URLs were removed in the 2025/2026 financial year after 397,527 were reported to search engines, according to a speech by chief executive ad interim Sarah Gardner given on 20 October 2026 at the International Association of Gaming Regulators conference in Lima, Peru, and published on 21 October. The figures cover the period before additional government funding became available.

The regulator sent 741 formal cessation notices to advertisers and operators during the year. It also reported 1,068 sites to search engines for deindexing and obtained action on 1,134 websites, which were subsequently taken down, deactivated or subjected to geographic blocks.

The UK government has allocated £26m to the Gambling Commission over three years, with a first tranche of £7m available from April 2026. Gardner said the additional resources will allow the regulator to widen operational activity, including through further powers expected in the coming months that would let it seek court orders to suspend IP addresses and domain names.

Gardner said action against the illegal market requires considerable resources, particularly when investigations lead to criminal proceedings, and that in previous years the Commission had concentrated on the most serious cases. She said technology providers supporting unlicensed business-to-consumer operators was unacceptable and called on companies to check their commercial relationships, with attention also on B2B suppliers, affiliates and advertising companies working with both licensed operators and illegal platforms.

On financial risk assessments, the Commission's board decided in July 2026 to proceed with implementation. The system will give operators access to a limited amount of information from credit reference agencies to identify possible financial difficulty among higher-spending customers. Gardner said the checks will not affect consumers' credit standing and the data cannot be used for commercial purposes. The Commission estimates that, once implementation is complete, fewer than 3% of gambling accounts will undergo a financial assessment, and that only 0.1% of accounts would find the process not without friction.

Trial results showed that customers with high gambling spending were two to four times more likely to have a debt management plan and two to five times more likely to have recorded a credit default in the previous 12 months than the general population, according to Gardner. The Commission acknowledged criticism and concerns from the industry, including over differing methodologies used by credit agencies, but said it intends to proceed. Publication of the full response to the consultation is expected in autumn 2026.

Gardner also presented new research on users of illegal gambling sites, based on a quantitative survey of more than 4,000 people who had gambled in the previous four weeks, excluding those who had only taken part in lotteries. The research covers four consumer categories identified in an earlier study: users who circumvent self-exclusion systems, players exploring new opportunities mainly through social relationships, those who deliberately choose the illegal market, and users who access it without a precise intention. Factors associated with use of illegal sites include seeking platforms not blocked by the GamStop self-exclusion system and a preference for sites requiring limited personal data.

Gardner said the motivations for using the illegal market differ and require different responses: some consumers need stronger protection measures, while for others information initiatives or changes in licensed operators' commercial practices may help. The research findings will also feed into new indicators in the Gambling Survey for Great Britain intended to improve measurement of illegal gambling and assess the effects of regulatory policies over time.

On problem gambling prevention, Gardner cited the Gambling Survey for Great Britain's 2025 annual report, which indicates 2.4% of the adult population with a score of 8 or higher on the Problem Gambling Severity Index, compared with 2.7% in 2024. She also said compliance checks continue to find room for improvement at both large and smaller operators on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. Gardner added that the Gambling Commission does not approve or recommend specific compliance products or service providers and warned operators about companies presenting their solutions as officially approved by the authority.

Gardner closed by citing international cooperation as essential against an illegal market operating through digital infrastructure and transnational commercial networks. She said collaboration with search engines, payment service providers, financial institutions, social platforms and authorities in other countries is among the most effective tools against unlicensed supply.