BGC warns unlicensed gambling in Britain has doubled in two years

The Betting and Gaming Council continues to warn of risk of unlicensed gambling in Britain as the industry awaits the government’s gambling white paper.

UK.- With the UK government’s delayed gambling white paper due this spring, the Betting and Gaming Council continues to warn of the risk posed by unlicensed gambling in Britain.

The BGC has warned that the number of players visiting unlicensed gambling websites has more than doubled in the last two years, according to an unreleased report it commissioned from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

The BGC said it would release the PWC report in response to the government’s Gambling White Paper when it is finally published. However, it said the research shows that the number of people using unlicensed websites had grown from 220,000 to 460,000, with the amount wagered reaching billions of pounds. 

The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport began reviewing British gambling legislation in November 2020 with a view to overhauling the 2005 Gambling Act.

It said that market research comparisons showed black market activity present across Europe and that in Norway, which has a monopoly system on gambling, unlicensed gaming represented 66 per cent of all money staked. It said that unlicensed gambling represented 57 per cent of wagers in France, where products are limited, and 23 per cent in Italy, where gambling advertising is banned.

The report states: “This analysis suggests that the UK has a more ‘open’ online gambling market and currently has a smaller unlicensed market share than our European benchmarks. 

“Whilst it is not possible to isolate the impact of individual regulatory characteristics, the above assessment suggests that jurisdictions with a higher unlicensed market share tend to exhibit one or more restrictive regulatory or licensing characteristics.”

BGC chief executive Michael Dugher said: “We support the Gambling Review but there is a real danger that it leads to the regulated industry being smaller and the illegal black market growing substantially.

“This research is stark about the dangers of the black market, we have to learn lessons from abroad and make the right choice at this dangerous crossroads.

“Any shift to the unsafe black market would also jeopardise the £350m a year which our members currently give to horseracing in sponsorship, media rights and the betting levy – financial support which has proved crucial during the pandemic.”

Last month, the BGC raised concerns about a recent survey in which gamblers expressed a strong rejection of affordability checks.

The YouGov poll found that 58 per cent of respondents were opposed to affordability checks, which are being considered by the UK government as part of its review of the 2005 Gambling Act.