The UK Gambling Commission reported lottery and enforcement figures at the Lotteries Council’s 2026 conference. Society lotteries raised more than £1bn for the second consecutive year, up 4.7% year on year, while the regulator said it removed 356 illegal lotteries from social media in 2025.
The figures give lottery operators and regulators a view of sector growth and enforcement activity.
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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.
The Gambling Commission found four distinct groups among consumers using illegal gambling sites, according to its latest Consumer Voice research. The findings indicate that these users have different motivations, the report said.
The Great Britain Gambling Commission's latest Consumer Voice research identifies four distinct user groups among consumers of illegal gambling sites. The regulator therefore concludes that this population is not one uniform audience.
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 and published on 21 October. The regulator sent 741 formal cessation notices and reported 1,068 sites to search engines for deindexing. The UK government has allocated £26m over three years to the illegal-market effort, with a first £7m tranche available from April 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 Gambling Commission reported findings from UK research into consumer participation in unlicensed lotteries and raffles on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. The regulator said consumers often focused more on whether a draw seemed genuine and offered a realistic chance of winning than on its legality, and identified risks when users were directed to third-party channels.