The Gambling Commission’s executive director Tim Miller criticised social media companies for allowing unlicensed operators to advertise, according to the report. He called for cross-sector support, but the report provides no further detail on his request.
Operators and regulators face continued advertising by unlicensed gambling businesses on social media.
The day’s most important stories, free. One email a day.
The Committee of Advertising Practice and the Advertising Standards Authority have announced a compliance initiative covering social media content that could appeal to under-18s. The initiative increases regulatory scrutiny of UK gambling advertising.
The Betting and Gaming Council accused technology companies of failing to prevent illegal gambling advertisements from reaching British consumers, including people who have self-excluded. Its open letter calls for faster removal of unlawful content, stronger detection and information-sharing, and collaboration with regulators and law enforcement; the UK government announced plans for an Illegal Gambling Taskforce in May.
The Gambling Commission said around 1% of Britain’s gamblers used illegal platforms as of April 2026. Its survey found 0.6% had used such platforms in the previous four weeks, while 94.4% showed no sign of use. The regulator said it would combine this baseline with other data to assess and target interventions.
By April 2026, the Commission puts illegal-platform use at roughly 1% of Britain's gamblers, and says it is overall confident of that estimate. Sue Gardner, the acting chief executive, presented this to industry leaders during the regulator's yearly CEO briefing.
The Gambling Commission presented new UK illegal-gambling estimates on 5 November 2026, based on survey data collected between April 2025 and April 2026. A report questions the Commission’s description of illegal-market participation as low and stable, citing the newness of the measure, the survey sample and other indicators, including a 12% rise in September 2026 activity against the previous three-month average.
The Gambling Commission, Great Britain's gambling regulator, presented new illegal gambling figures on 5 November. Sue Young, the Commission's executive director of operations, said in the press release that participation in the illegal market appears low and stable on these indicators. The report questions that description.
The Gambling Commission said its open-banking study found that 91% of people with repeated detected payments to illegal operators also gambled with licensed operators. The report, published on 28 October, said licensed transactions did not fall substantially after users’ first detected illegal payment. The Commission cautioned that the panel was not nationally representative and could not measure the illegal market’s size or establish that illegal sites cause harm.
The Gambling Commission has published its first open-banking study of the illegal gambling market, finding that 91% of people with repeated detected payments to unlicensed operators also gambled with licensed operators. The report was published on 28 October, according to the Commission.