UK Illegal Gambling Continues to Rise

Illegal gambling is apparently out of control in the UK.

According to the Telegraph, although the Gambling Commission say they have an active team dedicated to black market gambling, the problem is not in hand.

Estimates suggest that in 2020, £2.8 billion was wagered with illegal gambling operators. And if that sounds a lot, it's worrying that estimates have risen to a very unsettling £4.3 billion.

So, one solution (an incredibly challenging one) is to prevent any illegal operator from attracting new or regular consumers. Another approach is to make gambling with black market operators unappealing to customers, reducing the number using them.

Affordability checks are clearly not doing enough to prevent the use of illegal gambling operators in the UK, so perhaps it's time to look at the problem in other ways.

Two new Advisory Board members

Perhaps the addition of two new members of the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG) at the UK’s Gambling Commission will have ideas for challenging illegal gambling.

Two academics will hopefully bring new insights, observations, and ideas to the problem of black market operators in the UK gambling industry.

Joining are Dr Spencer Murch, a cognitive psychologist and AGRI Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary, Canada and Dr Virve Marionneau, a sociologist and the director of the Centre for Research on Addiction, Control, and Governance at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Dr Virve Marionneau has conducted research on several gambling-related topics, including the qualitative investigation of gambling experiences and harms and regulations and policy evaluations.

For help with gambling concerns, visit gamstop.co.uk, call the National Gambling Helpline at 0808 802 0133, or read our responsible gambling guides.