UK Illegal Betting Traffic Surges to More Than 25 Million Visits Annually Despite Gambling Commission Enforcement
Illegal betting site visits in the UK rose from 1.8 million monthly in 2022 to over 25 million in 2025 despite intensified enforcement.Summary
Research from the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Crime shows that monthly unique visits to unlicensed betting websites used by British consumers surged from 1.8 million in 2022 to more than 25 million in 2025. The study tracked over 300 betting websites, including 74 licensed operators and 227 illegal or unlicensed sites. During the first seven months of 2026, illegal operators attracted 19.4 visits for every 100 visits to licensed betting sites, while engagement deepened, with average visit duration rising 32 per cent and pages viewed per visit increasing 34 per cent between October 2024 and July 2026. For 32 tracked illegal operators offering bets on British horseracing, the ratio reached 6.8 visits per 100 licensed-operator visits between January and July 2026, compared with 0.97 in late 2021, even as online racing turnover fell by more than £2bn from its peak in the 2021-22 period.
Despite enforcement efforts—the Gambling Commission has issued more than 3,100 cease-and-desist or disruption notices and secured removal of almost 288,000 URLs since April 2024, received an additional £26m through the 2025 Budget, and the government launched an Illegal Gambling Taskforce in January 2026—the IFHA report argues that success should be measured by sustained reductions in illegal gambling traffic rather than enforcement volume. British Horseracing Authority chief executive Brant Dunshea said the industry's warnings during the Gambling Act Review have materialised, noting that customers shifting to unlicensed sites face greater risks and fewer protections while such operators contribute nothing to British racing or public finances, and he called for urgency with new Gambling Minister Vicky Foxcroft.
The IFHA study calls for a broader, coordinated response involving government, industry stakeholders, payment providers and technology companies, since enforcement activity alone has not returned traffic to 2021 levels. Regulators and operators should align on metrics and tactics that deliver measurable, sustained declines in black-market engagement to protect consumers and preserve contributions from the licensed market.
(Source：Sccg Management)